


The Spirit and the Phoenix

by DarthDoo



Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra, Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Azula is a chill aunt, Death, Gen, Homophobia, Izumi is 17, Izumi is the Blue Spirit, Post-Canon, Violence, Zuko Sokka and Suki are raising Izumi, Zuko is dating Sokka is dating Suki, mention of prostitution
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-12
Updated: 2020-11-14
Packaged: 2021-03-06 17:00:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 29,297
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26432320
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DarthDoo/pseuds/DarthDoo
Summary: After her birth parents are killed by an underground organization, Izumi is raised as the Crown Princess by Fire Lord Zuko, Sokka and Suki. Izumi is determined to defeat the organization that killed her birth parents and threatens her living loved ones. She is also determined to do this in her own way. To fight against her enemies Princess Izumi turns into a figure that has not been seen for decades - The Blue Spirit!
Relationships: Azula & Izumi (Avatar), Izumi & Kya (Avatar), Izumi & Sokka (Avatar), Izumi & Suki (Avatar), Izumi & Zuko (Avatar), Sokka/Suki (Avatar), Sokka/Suki/Zuko (Avatar), Sokka/Zuko (Avatar)
Comments: 3
Kudos: 37
Collections: AtLA <25k fics to read





	1. Rise of the Phoenix

Zuko took a step forward and could feel the sand beneath his feet shift under his weight. In front of him he could see around a dozen plain huts and houses that had been built by earthbenders long before was born. Some of the walls were covered by moss and vines, others were completely destroyed and revealed the yawning emptiness within the building. Zuko squinted his eyes. Even after all these years he could still see the black and grey marks on the walls and the furniture, old traces of the firebenders that had ambushed and probably abducted the former occupants. Maybe they ended up in a coal mine or one of the many labor camps during his forefathers’ reign, maybe they had been killed on the spot. There was probably nobody left to tell their story anymore.

  
“Wow, well now I get why the Loser Lord never found the White Lotus members that were hiding out in this place before the comet,” Sokka shouted from behind Zuko. “Doesn’t look too comfy to me.” Appa made a loud roar as if to agree with the Water Tribe warrior that jumped off the bison’s back and stepped to where Zuko was standing.

  
“Well it didn’t have to be comfy!” Zuko retorted, “it had to be hidden and forgotten, so nobody would find them! Plus, this place was within the Fire Nation colonies and close to Yue Bay, so strategically is was a very smart move to …”

  
“I know, I know,” Sokka interrupted and laughed. He put his hand on Zuko’s shoulder and stroked his back. “Didn’t mean to insult your super-awesome-secret-hide-out, babe.” Zuko pouted and Sokka kissed him on the cheek and strolled towards one of the houses.

  
“I think you super-awesome-secret-hide-out is great, Zuko,” Aang marveled and grinned. The Avatar, Katara, Ty Lee and Suki all jumped off Appa and followed Sokka. Katara didn’t exactly share her boyfriend’s attitude.

  
“I thought this is the place where Fen and Jiahao had built new houses,” she wondered and inspected the ruins skeptically. “Please tell me they are not raising their daughter in one of these!”

  
“No,” Zuko answered and started to walk past the ruins, “They are staying in the newer part of the village. Come on, they are probably already waiting for us.”

  
The group started to walk towards their destination, chatting happily.

  
“I’m so exited to meet Fen again!” Suki cheered, “I haven’t seen her since she took a break from the Kyoshi warriors for her pregnancy. I have so much to tell her about!”

  
“Yeah, I’m sure she will be so glad to talk about the palace gossip like we used to,” Ty Lee joined in. She and Suki were wearing their traditional Kyoshi warrior make up and garment. “It must be sooo boring to be married to a member of the White Lotus. All they do is talk history and politics.”

  
“Maybe you shouldn’t say this too loud,” Katara whispered grinning, “I think were almost there.”

  
They reached a small street with a few houses, that looked nothing like the huts where they had landed. They were painted in the green and golden colors and decorated with shiny lamps and wooden ornaments. Pink and white flowers – lotuses, if Zuko was correct– framed the house were the group was headed to. Before they reached the door a young woman opened the door. She had long black hair that was braided into a ponytail that almost reached her stomach. Her green eyes grew wide as she saw Suki and Ty Lee.

  
“You’re here! Finally!” She laughed and ran towards the other Kyoshi warriors. Suki and Ty Lee embraced the young woman.

“Fen! It’s so good to see you!” Ty Lee beamed.

  
When the girls broke their embrace, Fen moved towards the rest of her guests. She put her hands together and bowed slightly.

  
“Me and my husband feel honored to call you a guest in our humble home, Fire Lord,” she stated calmly. Then she smirked and crooked her head. “I’m also very glad to see you have been protected well, even though I couldn’t be at the palace.”  
Zuko smiled and returned the bow. “I’m very glad to see you happy and in good health as well.”

  
Fen’s grin grew wider. “Please come in everyone! Jiahao and the other members of the order are already inside.”

  
They followed the young woman into her house. They entered what was probably the largest room. There was a huge, wooden table in the center of it, covered with all kinds of scrolls and maps. Zuko could almost feel Sokkas excitement at this sight and smiled.

  
Around the table stood a handful of people, all dressed in blue and white robes. When the Avatar and his friends entered the room, they all rushed towards them to greet them eagerly. Among them were a few familiar faces that Zuko has seen at the camp in front of the big walls of Ba Sing Se. He noticed that Sokka was leaving his side to greet his sword fighting teacher Piandao. Jeong Jeong was also among the guests, but he did not seem to mind the new arrivals and kept brooding over a map of the former Fire Nation colonies.

  
“I am so happy you could all make it!” A young man approached them. His eyes were golden and he wore the same white and blue robes as the older members of the Order. Jiahao was one of the youngest minds of the formerly secret society and played a large role in the matter that had brought them all together on this day.

  
Zuko looked over his shoulder and caught Aang’s gaze. The Avatar smiled at him and pulled up his eyebrows. They had been spending the last couple of years planning and preparing the founding of something the world had never seen before: A free and independent state for people from all nations. A place where people from all continents, benders and non-benders, would live together, build families, break down the division of the four elements. The two of them had convinced the Earth Kingdom as well as the Water Tribe to support their idea and to help built the United Republic of Nations. After the war, the Order of the White Lotus lost their status as a secret society and became known to the world. Not only known, but celebrated and respected, as it was them who had freed Ba Sing Se and helped rebuilding the Earth Kingdom. Aang and Zuko had decided to request the Order’s help on fulfilling their vision right at the start. Who better to ask than an organization that had worked to overcome the boundaries of nations and elements for centuries?

  
The White Lotus would play an important role in shaping the life in Republic City, which was the reason why they had settled here, so close to Yue Bay. It was also the reason why Fen and Jiahao had chosen to move here. Life would be rather difficult for them, Zuko thought suddenly.

  
Jiahao was the youngest child of a rich trader family from the Fire Nation. Even though he was a firebender, he chose to learn the arts of sword fighting as well, just like Zuko had when he was young. So, Jiahao had packed his things and trained with none other than Master Piandao himself. When the White Lotus was uniting to liberate Ba Sing Se, Piandao recruited his student for their cause and appointed him a member of the White Lotus soon after the war had ended. His family, however, found a very different fate.

  
Jiahao’s family had been loyal supporters of Azulon and Ozai for their entire life. This did not change after the war. They were one of many noble families that condemned the ending of the war and Zuko’s plans to return all conquered lands and treasures back to the Earth Kingdom and the Water Tribes and pay reparations for the destruction his people have caused. When Jiahao’s father had been found to be involved in planning the assassination of the new Fire Lord, the family managed to flee his police forces. They had not been seen ever since.

  
Zuko had never talked to Jiahao about his father’s assassination attempt in person. He had been suspicious of the man for a long time. However, when he and Fen started dating and he got to know him better, these doubts had faded. More so, he had started to see how similar they actually were. Jiahao sure as hell wasn’t the only one who had a rather murderous and complicated family …

  
Fen was one of the Kyoshi warriors that had been employed as his personal bodyguards after the assassination attempt. She had been Suki’s second in command, until she got pregnant and left the Kyoshi warriors. However, Zuko was very sure that she would want to join them again eventually. Zuko knew how important the other warriors were to Fen and that she considered them her family. Even as a mother she would want to be part of that group again. Jiahao and Fen’s relationship sure es hell would not become any easier if he stayed in Republic City while she stayed in the Fire Nation or Kyoshi Island.

  
Like, Zuko knew that relationships like that could work. Sokka and Suki were the best example for that: Sokka was very involved in rebuilding the southern Water Tribe while Suki was the leader of the Kyoshi warriors and stayed with Zuko or on Kyoshi Island most of the time. Somehow, they always managed to see each other often enough, just like Sokka and Zuko saw each other a lot. But Zuko knew that Sokka often missed his tribe when he was staying with them.

On top of the distance issue, a child wouldn’t make things between Jiahao and Fen any easier. Zuko tried to imagine what would happen, if Sokka and Suki would have a child. Would one of them have to give up their life to live with the other? He couldn’t imagine Suki giving up her life as a Kyoshi Warrior, but he couldn’t imagine Sokka giving up his work at the Southern Water Tribe and Rebublic City, either. When Fen had told everyone in the palace about the baby, she had been so happy and confident that everything would work out somehow. That she could stay with the Kyoshi Warriors and do her duty while her husband helped shape the future of the United Nations. And even though Zuko had no idea how that was supposed to work, he had somehow believed her. Probably because Fen usually achieved basically everything she set her mind to.

  
Zuko snapped out of his daydream when Suki walked towards him and took his hand. “Zuko, you have to meet someone very important! It is of utmost importance!” And with that she pulled him out of the large meeting room into a smaller living room. Fen sat in a large, padded chair and held a small bundle in her arms, rocking the bundle back and forth. As Zuko stepped closer he saw the tiny head of Fen’s sleeping daughter secured between soft blankets. The baby was sucking on her tiny thumb and made quite noises as if she were dreaming.

  
“This is Izumi,” Fen said and smiled at Zuko.

  
He wasn’t really sure what to do or to say. It wasn’t easy to admit, but Zuko really wasn’t good with kids. When he had first met Katara and Aang’s son Bumi, he had felt the same. What where you even supposed to do with a baby? Especially somebody else’s baby? Of course, you could hold them and feed them, but that was about it. Zuko found it a lot easier to interact with Bumi now that he was a bit older, because now he could just tell him a story of one his and his parent’s adventures or do some cool firebending moves to impress the kid, but this stuff doesn’t really work on babies. And he was still pretty glad that Aang and Katara had decided to leave Bumi with Hakoda, instead of bringing him with them today.

  
Zuko still felt obligated to say something. “She … ehm … looks very cute. I’m happy for you?” He didn’t mean the last sentence to sound like a question, but it kind of did. Fen laughed and Suki and Sokka, who were standing next to her, joined in which made Zuko blush. Jep, talking about babies was apparently enough to make him, the Fire Lord, blush. Great.

  
“Aaw, come one babe, no need to feel insecure,” Sokka said and put his arm around Zuko, “I’m very sure she thinks you’re cute as well. I mean, she will when she wakes up and sees you, you know.”

  
“Yeah,” Zuko stuttered, but he couldn’t help but smile with them. “I’m not sure kids like me.”

  
“Oh, that’s not true, Bumi thinks you’re the coolest,” Suki said and smiled, “and if you ever have a baby of your own, I’m sure they will feel the same about you.”

  
Zuko looked at her, then at Sokka, then back at Suki. “How … how is that supposed to happen?” he asked. Suki blinked at him in surprise. When she understood what he meant she looked like she would start to laugh again, but she didn’t.

  
Everything happened fast. First Zuko noticed that his ears were ringing from the noise of the explosion. Then he noticed that he was falling. He crashed into the floor. Smoke was filling his lungs. He opened his eyes and tried to locate the source of the explosion. His eyes darted around the room. He screamed for Sokka and heard a growl coming from right next to him.

  
“I’m okay! Suki, where are you?”

  
“I’m here, I’m fine. What about Fen and the baby?”

  
Zuko stood up and started to look for Fen. Through the smoke clouds he could see her crouching on the floor a few feet away from him. She pressed the bundle tightly to her chest. Izumi was crying now.  
Suki reacted right away. She jumped up and ran towards Fen and pulled her to her feet. Zuko looked into the direction where the explosion had come from. The rest of his friends were shouting and he saw Katara throw icicles towards somebody. So the enemies were still here. Zuko wanted to walk towards Katara to help her, but Sokka grasped his arm to hold him back.

  
“No!” Sokka shouted “You are too important. They are probably after you.”

  
Zuko tried to free himself, but Sokka’s grip was too strong. No. He couldn’t hide and let his friends fight for him. Die for him.

  
In the next second Suki and Fen were at his side. His bodyguards. The women who had saved his ass countless times already, ready to do it again. Suki had drawn her fans and Fen had fetched hers as well. Izumi’s cries still filled the room.

  
“Take her and stay behind us!” Fen shouted and before Zuko could resist she handed him the little, crying bundle of blankets. No, Zuko thought. This wasn’t right, he couldn’t keep Izumi safe. The Kyoshi warriors and Sokka ran towards the large meeting room. Zuko went after them and saw the people responsible for the attack. There were at least three of four of them, dressed in grey and black cloth, hiding their faces behind masks. And at least two of them were firebenders. Aang bended a large rock and smashed it against one of their attackers. The hooded figure slammed against the wall and stayed on the ground. Katara shot streams of water at a second figure. Jeong Jeong and Piandao were fighting another one, fire against fire and sword.

  
“On the left!” Zuko heard Suki scream and the Kyoshi warriors darted around to attack two more hooded firebenders that were running towards Zuko and Izumi. Sokka followed the other warriors and Zuko tried to firebend at one of the attackers, but he couldn’t use his firebending without hurting the baby. He looked at Izumi. She had stopped crying and started coughing instead.

  
The smoke, Zuko thought, she can’t breathe. Zuko darted around, looking for a way out of the smoke clouds. He knew that he had to stay close to his protectors, because he could not fight while holding Izumi. But he also knew that he had to protect his child, no matter what. He ran into the direction Suki and Fen had gone. Here the smoke was less thick. He saw that one of the attackers was already lying on the floor, probably dead. The other one did not stand much of a chance against three trained warriors.

  
The walls of the house had been partly destroyed by the explosion. There was a crack right next to Zuko that was big enough to get out into the open. He climbed through the crack. stumbled outside and looked around. All buildings were on fire. Whoever was behind this attack, they must have placed bombs in all buildings.

  
But how? How did they know he and the Avatar would be here? Who was their target? Who was behind all this?

  
Zuko turned around more. There was a big pile of stones where once stood a part of Jiahao and Fen’. Almost buried beneath these rocks was an unmoving figure in white and blue robes. Zuko ran towards the body.  
No, he thought again. No, no, no, NO! Even though the face of the person beneath these stones had been damaged by the rocks, Zuko still knew who this had been. Jiahao’s dead body was buried underneath the remains of what was supposed to be his family’s home.

  
Izumi started to cry again. Then suddenly, one of the attackers was just in front of them. Zuko threw himself backwards, pulling one arm away from the baby, throwing balls of fire at the hooded figure. The firebender sidestepped and threw his own fireballs back at Zuko. The Fire Lord managed to dissolve the flames with his hands. He started to run back to the house. His best chance was to get to the others.

  
“Fire Lord!” Zuko heard Fen’s voice and pressed his back against the cold stone of the building. The Kyoshi warrior jumped through the crack and dissolved more flames with her fans. Then she started running towards the attacker. With a scream she thrust her fans against him, but he was too quick, he evaded her every move. The figure kicked against Fen’s knee and she fell with a groan. When she moved her head, her eyes went right into the direction of her husband’s body.

  
Fen didn’t move for a moment. Her eyes were fixated of the destroyed part of her house … and what was buried beneath. The attacker used these few seconds to run towards the Fire Lord, pulling out a dagger from his belt. Zuko threw himself to the side, careful to land on his back so Izumi would not be crushed under his weight. He turned his feet towards the other firebender and threw flames towards him.

The hooded figure jumped to the right and turned around. He pulled up the dagger again and threw it towards the Fire Lord.Zuko didn’t see what happened next, because Fen’s shielding body was suddenly in front of him. He saw how she threw one of her fans towards the firebender. Zuko heard the man screaming and falling. She must have hit him.

  
When Zuko looked up he saw the end of the dagger. The tip pointed right towards Zukos head; blood dripped from its tip. Fen looked down onto her torso and slowly lifted her hand, touching the hilt of the dagger. When she realized what had happened, she fell to the ground.

  
“Fen!” Zuko shouted and tried to catch her with the arm that was not holding Izumi. The Kyoshi warrior was breathing hard, still clutching to the dagger that had pierced her body.

  
“Zuko…” she murmured and looked into his eyes. She had never called him by his first name before, Zuko realized.

  
“It’s going to be okay, I will get Katara, just …” he started to mumble, but she interrupted him.

  
“Zuko. Please … “Her breathing was getting heavier. Zuko shouted Katara’s name, not sure if the fighting inside the building was over or not.

  
“Please, take care of her, Zuko,” Fen whispered, tears running down he face. She tried to turn her head, so she could see her daughter one more time. Izumi was not crying, her big, golden eyes were fixated on her mother’s face.  
“You have to protect her, promise me….”

  
Zuko felt tears running down his own face. Katara wasn’t coming. Alone, he was helpless. He could not save her, he could not help. He could not help the woman that had saved his life. He took Fens hand in his own.

  
“I promise,” Zuko whispered. Fen smiled at him, grateful. Then she closed her eyes. And she was gone. Zuko let go of Fen’s hand and wrapped it around Izumi, pulling her closer to his body. He lifted his head and looked around.

  
People had started to fight the fire, trying to save what had not yet been lost to the flames. He saw Katara bend water from a nearby river and dropping it onto the building. So the fight was over, he thought. Zuko stood up. The building across Fen’s was still standing. Zuko didn’t see it at first, because of the smoke still rising from the fires in front of the house, but there was something on that wall. It was quick and ugly picture made of red paint. It had been done quickly, probably by one of the people who attacked them. Even though it had been done in a hurry, Zuko recognized what it was supposed to be. Because he had seen this symbol before.

  
“A phoenix,” Zuko whispered, more to himself than to anybody.

  
He felt Izumi move in his arms. Her golden eyes were staring up at him, expectantly, curious. Like she was wondering when he would bring her back to her mother’s arms. Zuko stared at the infant and used his thumb to stroke Izumi’s hair out of her face. Then Izumi closed her eyes, put her little thumb back in her mouth and started to sleep. Zuko watched her face for what seemed like an eternity. In that moment he knew that he would keep his promise. That he would protect this little human being, no matter what.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, this is how everything began! The next chapter will pick up around 17 years later when Izumi is a teenager and fed up with her dad's disciplinary measures lol. I'm super exited, I haven't written a fic in 6 years, feel free to tell me what you think :) Not beta read. 
> 
> tumblr: kiwiisdarthdoo


	2. Balance

Izumi slowly moved closer to the edge of the town hall’s icy wall. Carefully she peaked around the corner and let her gaze wander over the town square. It was late, so most of the merchants had already closed their booths and only a handful of people strolled over the square. She saw a few fishermen that were using waterbending to move barrels full of fresh fish over the ground. Further to the right were a bunch of boys that played ice-ball. The tallest boys got a hold of the ball and bended it right past the goalkeeper of the other team. His other teammates cheered and laughed.

Izumi squinted her eyes. Why didn’t she see Kya anywhere? She had been so sure the other girl would try to get her by coming from the direction of the town square but …

Suddenly something wet and cold hit the back of Izumi’s head and dripped down her neck. She dropped the snowball she was holding and threw her hands into her neck to get the snow out of her hair and her hood. She heard a cry of triumph coming from behind her.

“Got you! One more point going to me!” Izumi turned around and saw Kya’s smug grin.

“How did you even get behind me?” Izumi asked, still trying to get the snow out of her clothes, but it was too late, the snow had already melted and cold water trickled down her back. Eeew. “The last time I spotted you, you were on the other side of the town hall.”

“Well,” Kya started an put her hands up in defense, “I may or may not have used waterbending to get over the fence of the building.”

“That’s cheating!” Izumi shouted, but Kya only crossed her arms.

“Why’s that?” the waterbender asked, “I mean, we never agreed that it wasn’t allowed to use our bending.”

“Yeah, as if my firebending would do me any good in a city made out of ice.” Izumi tried to put on her best angry face, but Kya’s grin just grew wider and Izumi couldn’t help but smile as well. The two girls started laughing and Kya bended the remains of the snowball out of Izumi’s clothes.

“Fine, next time I won’t cheat. I promise.” Kya winked at the Fire Princess and Izumi was pretty sure, that Kya would definitely cheat the next time they played, but she didn’t really care. It was always fun to just goof around with her cousin, running through the wide streets and plazas of the South Pole Capital or trying to catch a few otter-penguins to go penguin sliding. Izumi rolled her eyes at her and the girls started heading back to aunt Katara’s house.

Izumi had been staying at the South Pole for almost two months now and she really enjoyed how different everything was from the life in the palace. Back in the Fire Nation there were people everywhere, all the time. There were always some guards or servants or ministers that were greeting her or talking to her; and because she was the Crown Princess, she had to be polite to all of them. Even to the old, grumpy nobles that came to visit from time to time when they had found yet another issue to complain to the Fire Lord about. Everyday Izumi had to look her best and play her part in the politics of the Fire Nation and the only time she could really relax was when she was alone or with her family.

Here at the South Pole things were different. Sure, everybody knew who she was. She was wearing the blue and white garbs of the Southern Water Tribe, but she still wore the golden headpiece of the Crown Princess. But they didn’t really seem to care who she was. When she was walking around with Kya, the other kids and even the adults treated her just like they treated her cousins. Maybe Kya, Bumi and Tenzin also received special attention when they were staying at the South Pole, she thought. They _were_ the children of the Avatar and the Chief, so they were something like princes and princesses as well. Things were probably different for them, because they weren’t the single child of the beloved leader of their nation and weren’t expected to follow in his footsteps one day, she figured. 

All of the sudden Kya gasped and stopped walking. Izumi stopped as well and looked at her cousin in confusion. She was staring at the corner of one of the shops at the market and her cheeks started to turn red, which was not only due to the air being crazy cold.

“Maybe we should take the way through the craftsmen’s district, it’s a lot … eh … prettier, don’t you think?” Kya said and smiled awkwardly.

The craftsmen’s district was kind of scary and their way back home would take twice as long as the direct route, Izumi thought. She turned her head and looked into the direction Kya had been staring and she instantly spotted the reason for Kya’s newfound love for detours. Right at the corner of the street to Katara’s house stood Rini. Rini was one of the girls in Katara’s bending class and she was the same age as Kya. She was a bit taller than Izumi and was wearing a blue and purple coat of thick fur to shield her from the cold. The top of her hair black was pulled into a ponytail while the lower part was flowing freely over her shoulders. She was with two younger girls, her sisters if Izumi remembered correctly. They were playing with a little, white fox-cat that jumped around between the sisters, meowing and brushing against her legs.

Izumi looked back at her cousin and smirked. She knew very well that the reason Kya didn’t want to cross paths with Rini had to do with her _massive_ crush on the other girl. Yesterday after training Kya had tried to ask Rini out for a date, but when she had the chance, she had been to nervous and instead told her a really terrible joke about boomerangs that Izumi’s dad had dropped during dinner the other day. It had been painful to watch.

But it was to late to turn back now, because the fox-cat decided to run into Izumi and Kya’s direction and Rini spotted them. When Rini noticed Kya, her eyes brightened and she smiled sheepishly. _Oooooh_ , Izumi thought, _this is_ _going to be interesting_. She seriously couldn’t understand how such a bad joke might have caused Rini to fall for her cousin, but to be honest, it had worked for her dad, too. Twice. So maybe there just was something about terrible humor that queer people simply could not resist.

“Come on,” she whispered and slightly pushed Kya into Rini’s direction, “She’s totally into you, now’s you’re chance to ask her to go to the Glacier Spirits Festival with you!” Kya looked terrified, but then she nodded, took a deep breath and made her way to the group of girls. Izumi followed a few steps behind her. Rini’s smile grew wider and she waved her hand a little to greet Kya.

Just when Kya wanted to start talking a big ball of ice crashed down between the two girls. Rini’s mouth escaped a sound of surprise and she stumbled backwards. Kya and Izumi immediately took a fighting stance and swirled around. The group of boys that had been playing ice-ball on the town’s square before approached them, led by the tallest of them. He had his eyes fixated on Kya.

“Hey, Kya!” the boy shouted, “That’s you’re name right?” Kya’s eyes narrowed. The boy was now standing right in front of her and looked down. He was at least a head taller than her and probably older.

“What the hell is wrong with you Kibo?” Rini asked the boy angrily.

“Shut up, Rini,” the boy retorted and while Rini still glared at him furiously, she did as he asked.

“Hey, you can’t talk to her like that! Who do you think you are?” Kya shouted and pushed the boy with both of her hands. It could not have been painful, but Kibo looked like she had just pushed a knife in his chest.

“I happen to be her older brother. And I know exactly what you are after and believe me, I’m not going to let people like you go anywhere near my little sisters, got me?”

Kibo stomped onto the ground and a block of ice flung into the air and started floating over his stretched hand. The boys behind him did the same thing. Izumi knew that she should go between them and try to resolve this quarrel without violence. She knew that she was supposed to always try to go the diplomatic way before resorting to force, but the disgusted look in Kibo’s eyes and the anger and hurt in Kya’s made her forget everything her parent’s had told her about fighting hatred with words. But she remembered the things her parents had taught her about fighting hatred with her fists.

“Step away from her, or you’re going to regret it,” Izumi snarled.

“What are you going to do, Fire Princess? Try to fight me and my boys in a city made of ice?” His friends started laughing and Izumi grew even angrier. How dare this guy threaten Kya and Rini? How dare he insult her?

“Please, girls, just leave,” Rini pleaded. There were tears in her eyes, “I don’t want anybody to get hurt.”

“We’re not leaving,” Kya said and pulled a few blocks of ice from the ground, liquified them and threw them right at Kibo. The boy did not see this coming and the ice he had bended in the air shattered on the ground and he fell onto his back. He was soaking wet. After he realized what Kya had done, he bended a new block of ice from the square and flung it into Kya’s direction. His friends got moving as well and started throwing ice and water towards the girls.

Kya sidestepped and flung some of the water back at Kibo and his friends. Izumi used her firebending to block a ball of ice coming her way. The boy’s eyes grew wide with fear. Even while anger was boiling inside of her, Izumi knew she could not throw a fireball at a water tribe boy in the middle of the town square. She knew what it would look like. It had been over 30 years since the war had ended. The relationship between the two nations had become better very quickly after the war. Reasons for this were probably the good friendship between Fire Lord Zuko and the late Chief Hakoda and the relationship of her fathers. And herself, of course. I child raised by a warrior from the South as much as a monarch from the Fire Islands. However, the wounds of what the Fire Nation had done to the world, the people of the South Pole specifically, were still there and still deep.

Instead of firebending at Kibo, Izumi started to run into his direction, ditched his waterbending and slammed her fist right into his stupid face. He cried out in pain and hid his face behind his hands, shouting curses between his howls. Kya looked like she was about to teach him another lesson, but she was stopped by jarring sound of a whistle. Only seconds later the kids were surrounded by guards.

* * *

From the window of her room Izumi could watch the harbor of the South Pole Capital. Her dad had told her about how this has once been a small natural bay with nothing, but a few towers and walls made from snow. How there was only enough space for a few small Water Tribe boats. Now there were a long landing stages and huge ferries and cargo boats. Ships were coming and leaving almost every day and there was always a sailor who could tell the newest tales from all around the world. Even if they probably weren’t completely true most of the time. Just like what Kibo has been telling the guards and every soul willing to listen to his bullshit. About how Kya had been _angry_ because Rini had rejected her and how she had threatened the other girl, so her oh so heroic brother had to run to his baby sisters help. Pathetic.

But the worst part about it was, that Rini had confirmed her brother’s tales. Izumi remembered the look on Kya’s face when she heard those lies coming out of Rini’s mouth. She had looked so devasted, angry and – most of all – heartbroken. Izumi couldn’t help but despise Rini for her behavior and backstabbing, but she figured that her brother’s blatant homophobia had to come from somewhere and Rini still had to face her family after this. Her dad had told her a lot about the difficulties he had when the other warriors had learned of his relationship with the Fire Lord. He believed, that if it hadn’t been for grandad Hakoda and aunt Katara’s high ranks within the tribe, the backlash and hate would have been a lot worse.

Luckily, it had not taken much to convince Katara that the version the guards have told her wasn’t what had actually happened. After Izumi and Kya had told the Chief about Kibo’s hate speech and how _he_ had been the one to threaten _them_ , Katara had been furious. And if there is one thing in this world people should fear, it was Katara’s wrath. Sure, now that she was the leader of the tribe she couldn’t go around and start fighting teenage dickheads, but a Chief has her ways. So after the next waterbending class she and Kibo had a private conversation and the next morning, he was standing in front of their house to apologize. Rini did not come with him. Katara, Izumi and Kya spent the rest of the day at home, eating sweet cakes and biscuits that were brought in by one of the cargo ships from Kyoshi Island this day. Katara told them stories about how she and Aang found to each other and how she still teased Sokka about all the awkward stuff he had done to impress her mom and her dad Zuko. Even Kya laughed from time to time.

Even though Katara wasn’t mad at them and everything was fine while Izumi was with her, the damage had been done. The rumor that the Fire Princess had participated in threatening a young water tribe girl and firebended at her brother had spread like wildfire. Even though Katara had instructed Kibo to tell the true story about what happened to all of the people he had lied to, the whole city was talking about the incident. Right about now the first ships that had left the harbor that day should have reached its next destination. The rumor would reach the Fire Nation and the Earth Kingdom soon, there was no avoiding it, Izumi knew that.

Izumi was kind of glad that her father and grandfather were on a hunting trip and would return only today. She couldn’t really say how Sokka would have reacted when he had heard the same story Katara had heard. He probably would have been mad at her for punching a kid in the face, but he also would have been proud of her for standing up for their family. Luckily, as of now things had cooled down a little.

Somebody knocked on the door and Katara entered Izumi’s room. She was smiling at her niece, but there was a hint of worry in her face.

“Honey, your father is here to see you,” she said slowly and Izumi jumped from her bed where she had been lying.

“I thought it would take them longer to come back!” She ran to the window to see if she could find dad and grandad’s hunting boat in the harbor. Even though she had worried about how Sokka would react just a few seconds ago, she was still exited to see him again and hear everything about his trip. But when she looked out of the window there was no hunting boat. Instead one of the landing stages was occupied by a giant yawning red dragon.

* * *

The Fire Lord was waiting downstairs. Izumi walked down the stairs slowly, one step at a time. She hadn’t seen her dad in person since she had left for the south two months ago. This should probably be a happy reunion and she should run towards him and fling her arms around his neck, like she usually did when she saw one of her parents after a long time of being separate. But she knew that it was different this time. She had fucked up, big time.

Her dad was leaning against the kitchen table, arms crossed in front of his chest. Part of his long hair was pulled up in a topknot that was graced by the golden emblem of the Fire Nation. He was wearing his formal Fire Lord robes, looking awkwardly out of place in Katara’s bright, cozy living room. Izumi had reached the end of the stairs.

“Dad,” she said. Somehow it sounded more like a fact than a greeting when she said it.

“Hey, pumpkin,“ her father answered and smiled a little. He sounded earnest but sincere. “I received a letter from your aunt saying you were having some … trouble with a water tribe kid. Which would not have been necessary, as half the court has already been gossiping about it when her message arrived.” 

Katara tried to hide her guilt with a crooked smile. “I will leave the two of you alone.” And with that she more or less fled the room through the front door.

“Look, Dad, it wasn’t like this stupid guy told everybody! He threatened us! I only defended myself!”

“You firebended at somebody.” The Fire Lord’s voice was louder this time.

“I did not even firebend at him! I just used my firebending to block his stupid waterbending.”

Zuko sighed, stepped closer to Izumi and put his hands on her shoulders. “Look, I believe you. I know that you wouldn’t firebend at a civilian and I know you wouldn’t punch somebody, if they didn’t deserve it.” Izumi’s eyes fell to the ground. She already heard a big _but_ coming.

“But what matters is, that a dozen different people saw the Fire Princess use her firebending on South Pole territory and that she almost broke somebody’s nose right after that. What in Agni’s name were you thinking, Izumi?”

“He was bullying Kya for liking his sister and he was threatening her! What was I supposed to do? Shouldn’t you know how this feels like?” Her voice grew louder with every word and at the end she was almost shouting. Izumi raised her head and looked into her father’s face. He looked lost.

“I do know what it feels like and how angry it can make you,” he answered after some time, “and I’m afraid this was not the last time you’re cousin Kya will experience stuff like that. But this does not mean that you should resort to violence. Especially not, when you happen to be heir to the throne of the Fire Nation. You know what state our country is in, Izumi.”

She did know it very well. Since her father had taken the throne there have been voices that demanded the Fire Nation’s previous dominance over the other nations to be restored. They condemned the peace and everything that came with it, the reparations, the Earth Kingdom reclaiming their territory, the growing friendship between the three nations. Those word grew even louder when Avatar Aang and Fire Lord Zuko declared the foundation of the United Republic of Nations. Then, about 16 years ago these voices turned into action.

They called themselves the Pheonix Legion. They claimed her father was an usurper that had taken the throne unrightfully and with the single goal, to destroy everything the Fire Nation has accomplished over the last 100 years and turn it into an insignificant accumulation of islands, crushed under the rule of the Earth Kingdom. They stuck to the old Fire Lords’ ideas that fire was the superior element and that firebenders deserved to rule over the world and subjugate every other nation.

Their very first strike against her father had been the one with the heaviest consequences. For the world and for Izumi herself. She had been a baby and couldn’t remember what had happened, but her parents had told her everything. Izumi often wondered what would have become of her when her birth parents had not been killed this day. Would she be a Kyoshi warrior like her mother Fen? Would she have joined the White Lotus like her Father Jiahao? Or would she be somebody else entirely? Would she be happier? Happier with a simpler life, without the weight of following Fire Lord Zuko’s footsteps one day? Thanks to the Phoenix Legion, she would never know.

The people who were leading this underground organization had never revealed their identities. It was speculated that they must have some ties to the palace, because they knew where the Fire Lord and the Avatar would be that day 16 years ago. After the dreadful attack they had kept a low profile for a while, organizing a rally here and there, but in the last few years their presence had become bigger. There had been more bombings and more rallies. More and more people started to follow them, repeat their ideas, revolt against the Fire Lord. She knew that her father and his advisors feared a civil war. The resurgence of the Phoenix Legion and the impending war had been some of the reasons why Izumi was staying at the Southern Water Tribe. Her parents had thought it best to protect her from the Phoenix Legion. She was also here, to set an example. That the nations were stronger together and that maintaining balance and peace was crucial.

Izumi felt horrible. She had done the exact opposite of what was good for the unity and safety of her people. The Pheonix Legion would use this whole situation to further press their believes, to convince more people that yes, they should use their fire to keep the other nations under control.

“I know, Dad.” Izumi fell towards her father and wrapped her arms around him. His arms closed around her and held her in a warm embrace. “I’m sorry, it was stupid and rash and I didn’t think of the consequences.”

Zuko sighed quietly and stroked her hair with one hand. “It’s going to be all right, pumpkin. I’m sure we will find a way to fix this.” Izumi nodded into her father’s robes. She knew that he wasn’t angry anymore, he was never able to stay angry at her for a long time.

“I promise, I won’t shoot any fireballs around for the rest of my stay.”

Her father stayed silent for a moment, then he broke the embrace. He looked very tired, Izumi thought.

“Izumi, I didn’t only come here to lecture you. I came here to take you back to the palace.”

Izumi’s eyes widened in shock. He could not do that! She was supposed to stay here for another two months at least, she had only just started learning how to steer the slim water tribe boats from her father Sokka. There were so many more things she and her cousins had planned. Bumi had wanted to take her to the Glacier Spirit Festival. Kya wanted to show her secret ice caves with ice so clear and shiny, that you could see your own reflection in it. Katara had wanted to share more Water Tribe stories and poems with her. She didn’t want to go back to the palace, where she would be obligated to be the perfect princess again. She didn’t want to be without her friends.

“That’s not fair!” 

“You knew that there would be consequences of your actions. This is one of them. You are going back home, we can’t risk any more rumors about you to spread in the Fire Nation. You have to be present at court.”

“Well I don’t want to be present at your stupid court!” Izumi ran towards the door and stumbled into the icy cold. He heard her father shout her name behind her, but she didn’t care. Why did she have to be so reckless? Why did she let herself be provoked by this dick Kibo? She could have spent another two months with Kya if it wasn’t for her fucking firebending!

Izumi stopped running, breathing heavily. The cold wind was burning like fire in her lungs. She had almost reached the harbor. Then she saw it.

Her dad’s boat! He was back, finally. Maybe he could convince Zuko to change his mind about her having to go back to the Fire Nation. Izumi started running towards him. She could already see him and her grandfather unloading some giant plaice-salmons they had caught in the open waters. The big animal landed on the wooden plank with a thud and she saw her father laughing. Her grandfather walked towards a group of sailors at the other side of the landing stage while her father kept talking to a person that was admiring his catch. A couple of young men started unloading Sokka and Hakoda’s things from the boat. One of the men carried a large bag towards one of the warehouses. Izumi noticed that he passed another man, that they quickly nodded at each other. What was that second man doing? Was he drawing something on the wall?

When Izumi realized what she was seeing, her heart skipped a beat. No, it couldn’t be, not here. Not at the South Pole. She wanted to shout, to scream that her father had to get away from this boat, now! But her cries were drowned in the sound of the explosion. 


	3. Old Spirits

Frosty winds blew into the house when Zuko stepped to the door frame and looked after his daughter. He knew that there was no use in calling her name, but he did it anyway. His voice echoed through the white buildings of the street and the only being that answered was a puffingull that screeched at him and flew away. 

The Fire Lord sighed and closed the door of Katara’s house. He knew that Izumi would come back eventually and only needed some time to process, but her words had hurt nonetheless. Maybe taking her back to the Fire Nation was too harsh. Zuko hadn’t realized that Izumi enjoyed staying in the South so much more than staying at the Palace, but the more he thought about it, the more it made sense to him. Life as the heir to the Fire Nation throne was far from easy, he knew that better than anyone. Still Sokka, Suki and Zuko had tried everything to learn from the past, to not make the same mistakes that have been made by their own parents. Izumi had spent multiple summers and winters outside of the palace. She and Sokka had spent time in the Republic City and the South Pole where she learned how to ice dodge and even helped her dad with his plans on Rebuplic City’s infrastructure. Since Izumi was old enough to hold a weapon, she had spent a lot of time on Kyoshi Island with her mother and the other Kyoshi warriors. Even though she was no official member of the Kyoshi warriors, she had trained with them and became friends with a lot of the younger girls on the team. Izumi had even invented a new technique for using Kyoshi’s traditional fans for firebending. And when she stayed at the palace, she attended her father’s meetings, studied the history of the nations and fulfilled all of her obligations as the crown princess.

It had been joint decision to declare Izumi his heir. Zuko remembered how he had walked past the burning buildings of the White Lotus, searching for Sokka and Suki, holding Izumi to his chest. When Suki had finally spotted him in the smoke, his face must have told her everything that had happened and she had fallen to her knees, tears running down her face. The three of them had travelled back to the Fire Nation and agreed to raise Izumi as their own and to grant Fen’s last dying wish. Thus, Izumi became a child of three nations.

Had Zuko asked to much of his daughter? Should he have waited longer with getting her involved with Fire Nation politics? She had started attending their meetings when she had turned fifteen. It had seemed plausible at that time and Izumi had been eager to get involved in decisions concerning her people. But this hadn’t been the only reason. Zuko knew that the public opinion on him and his legitimacy could change any time. The voices demanding his removal from power grew louder and more aggressive each day. In case anything happened to him … he needed Izumi to be ready. Ready to lead and unite their people and prevent another war from shattering the balance of the world irreversibly. 

Zuko leaned against a wall and let himself sink down to the floor. His joints were aching from the long flight and his head was throbbing like crazy. Every cell in his body screamed for a few hours of sleep, even though he knew that he would feel just exhausted in the morning like he has felt every minute during the last couple of months. When he had taken the throne, he had not expected his reign to be an easy one. Zuko had never assumed the Fire Nation to magically change into a peaceful nation just by declaring the war over. Almost every noble family had lost territory, privilege, or treasures in one way or another due to the peace treaties with the other nations. At first, they had not dared to defy the Fire Lord’s will; they still remembered Ozai’s reign and wrath and expected nothing less of his son. But the more time had passed and the more Zuko had proven to be different than his father, the more people questioned the end of the war. Zuko had often asked himself, it he should be a stricter Fire Lord. If he should use the absolute power of the throne to force his will onto his nation for the sake of the greater good. If it hadn’t been for his friends, he might have given into this idea and might have turned into his father. 

But did he really turn out any better than Ozai? Didn’t he declare Izumi his heir, knowing that this would destroy her chance of living a normal and happy live like Fen had wanted her to? Didn’t he push her to become part of the government when she had just been a child? Didn’t he lay the fate of the world in her hands should he fail? Didn’t he …

The sound of the explosion roared through the city like thunder. Within a matter of seconds Zuko was on his feet and outside of Katara’s house, scanning the environment for the source of the noise. He instantly spotted a smoke rising from somewhere around the harbor. Zuko started running towards the source of the smoke. He could see people running towards the landing stages, using ropes of waterbending to save people that had fallen into the ocean because they had been hit by what appeared to be the pieces of a wooden boat. Zuko saw the remains of the ship floating on the sea.

Suddenly Zuko heard Izumi screaming for him. He stopped abruptly and tried to find her in this mess of smoke and people. He screamed her name so she would find him. Then he saw her, but she wasn’t running towards him she was running away from him, why would she …?

And then he realized that Izumi had not been screaming for him. Izumi grabbed the shoulders of a man that had almost fallen into the ocean and dragged him towards the city. Parts of his clothes were burned of and Zuko could see the burned skin underneath it. He instantly knew that this person was Sokka; his heart dropped and he kept running towards his family. Izumi positioned her father so that he was sitting upright, his back leaned against the wall of a warehouse. Sokka’s head slightly moved and then his hand rose towards Izumi’s face.

He was alive. Thank Agni he was alive. Zuko continued to make his way through the crowd. When he came closer to his family, he realized that he had been so focused on Sokka that something had slipped his attention before. This something being a yellow painting of a phoenix with spread wings, hovering just above Sokka’s head like an omen.

Why would the Phoenix Legion attack the South? Maybe they had been following him. Usually Zuko never traveled without his guards or any kind of protection, but the matter was so urgent that he and Druk flew to the South on their own. So had he been the target of this attack? No, this didn’t make any sense, why would they blow up Sokka’s boat if they knew that Zuko wasn’t on board?

Zuko pushed those thoughts out of his mind. There was no time for this right now, the only thing that mattered was getting Sokka to a healer. Zuko dropped onto his knees and took Sokka’s hand. Sokka tuned his eyes away from Izumi and towards Zuko. There was a deep cut right over his right eye and blood was flowing down his cheeks.

“What … what are you doing here?” Sokka asked and even though there had been an attempt on his life only minutes ago, he smiled at Zuko.

“That doesn’t matter right now, my love,” Zuko answered and slid his arm around Sokka’s waist. Izumi did the same thing on her father’s other side and together they pulled Sokka onto his feet. He groaned in pain and Zuko could see that a small puddle of blood had formed where his leg had been laying. When they turned around, Sokka’s eyes caught the phoenix mark. The three of them fell silent. They knew that this was only the beginning.

* * *

Everything about the Fire Nation palace was different from the South Pole. The light, the smells, the sounds, the air. Everything felt more like home, more like her family and more like a cage. Izumi and her family were walking along one of the long and high hallways of the palace. Large windows bathed the walls and carpets into golden light.

„Are you _really_ feeling good enough to go to this meeting? I think you should stay in bed.”

Izumi glanced to her mother and when their eyes met both had to smile. Suki wasn’t wearing her traditional Kyoshi warrior uniform like she usually did when she stayed at the palace as her dad’s bodyguard. Today she wore a simple red vest and dark pants, as she would be the Fire Lord’s protector today, but his advisor and the princess’s mother.

“Like I told you at least a hundred times, Zuko, I’m fine!” Sokka answered. He was wearing his blue and white Water Tribe garbs and a golden headpiece in the shape of a crescent moon. Even though Katara had healed him as good as she could he still needed a crutch to help him walk on his own, but considering what could have happened, walking on a crutch for a few more weeks was nothing.

Izumi’s dads kept bickering about whether Sokka should go back to his chambers or go to the meeting until they finally reached their destination. The large conference room was already full of murmuring ministers and advisors when they entered. As soon as they noticed the Fire Lord and his family the murmuring stopped and the ministers as well as most of the advisors bowed their head dutifully.

The Fire Lord seated himself at the head the massive wooden table. Izumi took a seat to his right, while Sokka seated himself on his left; her mom sat down next to Izumi. 

Around the table sat around fifteen people. Izumi’s aunt Azula was the only one in the room that hadn’t stopped talking when the Fire Lord had entered and was still complaining about something concerning the planning of the annual New Year’s festival to the rather uncomfortable looking minister next to her. Azula gave Izumi a little wink without interrupting her little monologue. Next to Azula was her dad’s uncle Iroh. He rarely attended the meetings in the palace anymore due to his high age and the troubles of traveling from the Earth Kingdom to the Fire Nation. But apparently the current situation and the danger his nephew and family were in had been enough to convince the old dragon to share his wisdom in the fight against their enemies.

There was another face between all of the grouchy looking Fire Nation officials that lightened Izumi’s mood. Her uncle Aang walked towards the table and seated himself cross legged onto the ground, smiling at the newcomers. Momo, who had been sleeping on his shoulder until now, woke up and started running over the table as soon as he spotted Sokka sitting at the other end. Izumi watched her father’s face fill with excitement as he started to scratch Momo’s ear, telling the lemur how much he had missed him.

Now that everybody was seated and even aunt Azula seemed to have realized her brother wanted to start the conference, the Fire Lord greeted all those present.

“I am grateful all of you could join us on such a short notice. These are truly dreadful times for our nation and all of you will be needed to return union and balance to the Fire Nation. As you all know,” the Fire Lord turned his head to his left and lay his hand on top of his partner’s, “Councilman Sokka just barely survived an attempt on his life by the Phoenix Legion. They are getting more dangerous by the day and I will not leave this unanswered.”

Izumi’s nails dug into her palm when she thought about the day her father had been attacked. The Phoenix Legion had already taken her birth parents and whatever life she would have had away from her. After she had realized that they now tried to take her new family from her as well, sheer panic had spread through her entire body, making it impossible for her to feel anything besides helplessness and despair. She remembered clinging to Zuko’s robe after they had dragged Sokka to Katara. How she had cried silently while the Fire Lord would not stop shaking until Katara had finished her healing.

After Sokka felt strong enough to travel they had immediately returned to the Fire Nation. Seeing her father recovering and making jokes had eased the anxiety that had clawed at Izumi’s heart and slowly her fear changed into boiling rage. Whoever was hiding behind those phoenix paintings, clinging to the old and crumbling idea of Ozai’s propaganda and colonialism would pay. They would pay for taking her family away from her once and endangering her new family once more. Izumi was willing to do anything to keep her parents and her people safe and finally she knew her father would feel the same.

Izumi knew that the Fire Lord had nothing but his people’s safety and welfare at heart. He had proven to be a kind and just leader, nothing like his father had been before him. Even though it had been hard, the common folk loved their Fire Lord. Unlike the noble families they had benefited from the end of the war: their loved ones had returned from the battlefield and they would not live in fear of losing their children to the army. However, Izumi sometimes thought that her father had been too cautious when it came to answering the attacks of the Phoenix Legion. Even when his advisors demanded military actions against known supporters of the underground organization, the Fire Lord had been true to his ideals of resolving conflicts diplomatically and without violence. Her other parents and the Avatar had always supported him in his decisions, but Izumi hoped that these days were over; she hoped that now they had realized just how far the Phoenix Legion would go to achieve their aims, they would feel like Izumi and use everything in their power to stop them.

The head of the Fire Nation police forces, General Kuro, spoke up.

“My Lord, I too believe that it is time for more direct measures. I recommend concentrating all of our forces to find the Legion’s secret hideouts and destroy them once and for all. To make the search easier I also recommend a curfew and prohibition of assembly for all Fire Nation citizens.”

The Fire Lord folded his hands in front of his lips and furrowed his brows. Raidon, the minister of foreign affairs hesitantly rose to his feet. He held his head so that his eyes would not have to cross her father’s gaze.

“F... Fire Lord Zuko, if I may. The people of the Fire Nation would not welcome such drastic measures, even if they are for their own safety. E… Especially now that the attacks appear to happen in other parts of the world as well. Shouldn’t we investigate the nature behind the Legion’s interest in the Southern Water Tribe first?”

“I don’t think that this will bring any new insights,” Sokka answered and the blood left Raidon’s face, “the Legion did not attack the Southern Water Tribe, they specifically attacked me and my father. It would not make any sense for them to attack any of the other nations before they had control over the Fire Nation. I think their only aim was to intimidate the Fire Lord.”

“I agree,” Izumi’s mother said, “They are clearly trying to demonstrate their power and ruthlessness. I assume that they hoped for a rash and irrational response in case the assassination had been a success. I think their attacks will only become more dangerous and numerous in the future. They are trying to force us to react and make a mistake. I think what we should do is …”

“Well, if I were you, I wouldn’t reveal any of your ideas to this council,” Azula interrupted Suki. Her aunt had propped her elbows on the table and rested her head against one of her hands. She might give the impression that this was the most boring meeting she had ever attended, but Izumi didn’t miss Azula’s attentive gaze, scanning all of the people present in the moment.

“But princess, isn’t this what we have come here for today?” General Kuro asked her annoyed.

Azula sighed and rolled her eyes. “Do I really have to point out everything to you guys?” Apparently Azula interpreted the following silence as a yes. “How do you think the Phoenix Legion knew that my brother would be at the South Pole and that Sokka would be returning from his hunting trip on that day, hm? Fire Lord Zuko, who were the people that knew of your departure and of Sokka’s return?”

Her father did not answer immediately. His eyes wandered through the room, trying to read every face that they met.

“The only place where I announced those things was this council,” he finally stated.

“Then somebody in this room must provide the Phoenix Legion with information!” Izumi concluded in horror. Her aunt nodded and flipped her hands to the side, as if she wanted to ask Izumi to call out the person who was most likely to be the mole right here and then.

Izumi knew that a member of her family would never betray Zuko like this. It had to be one of the advisors or ministers. The candidates had probably come to the same conclusion because all of them started to shift on their seats nervously.

The first advisor that had spoken today was General Kuro, the head of the Fire Nation police force. Today had not been the first time he had suggested more forceful measures to fight the Legion. He had served in the war when he was just a teenager and had been nothing but thankful to the Avatar and the Fire Lord since they had declared peace. Izumi was certain that Kuro had nothing but the Fire Lord’s safety at heart and that he would never betray him by leaking information to his enemies.

Next to him sat General Raika, the minister of defense and head of the military. She was a descendent of a noble house that had lost a lot of land after the war had ended. Her parents have even criticized the Fire Lord’s decisions concerning the colonies in public, however Raika had always distanced herself from their statements. Rumors told that her parents had even disowned her for supporting the Fire Lord. Izumi knew that her father had great trust in General Raika and so did she.

Next was professor Azarni. She had played an important role in establishing a new curriculum in fire nation schools. Even before the war had ended, she had secretly studied the true history behind the war and what had really happened on the first day of Sozin’s comet. Azarni would never be captivated by the propaganda of the Phoenix Legion, Izumi was sure of this.

Shoichi Cheiwa was the minister of economy. Izumi had never liked the man. He was part of the powerful Cheiwa family, who had been one of the few noble families that had profited from the end of the war. After the war they had quickly stared to specialize on exporting Fire Nation goods to rich Earth Kingdom citizens, which had increased their power and wealth considerably. Izumi did not doubt that Cheiwa would betray the Fire Lord if somebody offered him enough money. However, a war would hurt his busines immensely.

Next to him sat Yuudai, High Sage and the oldest member of the council. He had already served as Fire Sage under Azulon’s reign. After the sage’s betrayal during the winter solstice he had worked to restore the sages honor by serving Avatar Aang and aiding him in reeducating the people of the Fire Nation. However, Yuudai was known to be unsatisfied with the sages’ position and influence. But was this enough to betray his own Fire Lord? Izumi doubted that.

Another advisor was Hisa, a member of the White Lotus. She had been born into a noble Fire Nation family and had played her role as the perfect daughter until the end of the war. However, her parents never knew that she was part of a secret group that had helped to smuggle deserters out of the Fire Nation into Earth Kingdom territories. One of those deserters had been Jeong Jeong, one of the most respected members among the order. After the war he had convinced Hisa to leave her family and join the White Lotus. The main reason she was part of this council were her ties and connections the Fire Nation underworld from her days as a smuggler. Even though nobody really knew what her role in the current underworld was, she had proven to serve the people of the Fire Nation. Izumi doubted that she would support a group trying to provoke a civil war.

The last one was Raidon, the minister of foreign affairs. He had been born in the former Earth Kingdom colonies as the child of a firebender and an earthbender. After the war he had moved to the Fire Nation to study history. Izumi remembered overhearing a conversation between him and one of his employees. His family had apparently never been happy with the foundation of Republic City, but he always seemed to be loyal the Fire Lord. However, Izumi had always considered him to be rather cowardly and easy to manipulate. Izumi could imagine him spying on the council if the Fire Legion threatened him.

Izumi squinted her eyes at Raidon, who was tugging at his collar and sweating visible. He was clearly uncomfortable in this situation. Was this due to him being the mole or was this just a normal reaction to being a suspect of treason? He did just argue against enforcing a curfew and prohibition of assembly and had tried to direct the focus onto the Southern Water Tribe. This might have been a tactic to distract the council from the Legion’s activities within the Fire Nation, but it might have also been an attempt to identify the structures and leaders of the Legion. Even though Raidon was the most suspicious to Izumi, she needed to find actual proof that he was working with the Legion until she could tell her father about her accusations.

The Fire Lord dismissed all of the advisors and ministers expect for General Kuro. After the last person had left the room and the heavy door closed with a thud, Zuko sighed loudly and let his body sink into itself, messaging his temple with his hand. Sokka reached over to him and lay his arm around the Fire Lord’s shoulder.

“I trust General Kuro with my life, there is no way that he is the spy,” Zuko murmured. Now that his officials had left the room he didn’t act like the earnest and resilient Fire Lord anymore. Now he just looked like a man who was desperate and scared for his family. “Are all of you okay with this?”

Nobody made any objections and Zuko nodded and looked over to General Kuro.

“Your trust honors me, my Lord,” Kuro said and bowed his head. Izumi could feel that he meant what he said. “I am afraid that the help of the other members of the council will be of utmost importance in our fight against the Phoenix Legion. We must identify the mole as fast as possible, maybe this will even help us to identify the head behind those terrorists.”

“General Kuro, does the police have the capacity to have the other council members shadowed day and night?” Suki asked and the General nodded.

“I will need some time to prepare and brief my men, but we will be able to start the observations by sundown.”

“Thank you General, please begin your preparations right now,” the Fire Lord commanded, “as you said, we need to solve this mess as soon as possible.”

The General bowed again and left the room immediately.

“So …” aunt Azula started and raised an eyebrow, “who do you think it is? I have some ideas.”

“Unfortunately, there is more than one person capable of betrayal, now that I think about it,” Sokka stated and sighed. “Cheiwa is only interested in the size of his own wallet, he might have been bought. Raidon would probably shit his pants if the Phoenix Legion threatened him personally, so he could be the informant, too.”

“I don’t think we should make any assumptions about the council members’ loyalty without any actual proof,” Avatar Aang insisted with worry in his voice.

“I agree with the Avatar,” Iroh added. His speech was slow and marked by his high age. “Nephew, now is not the time for rash accusations. We must not allow the members of the council to turn against us. This would only strengthen the influence of the Phoenix Legion. We will find the spy, but this has to happen without driving a wedge between us and our allies.”

“Uncle, our allies are no help to us, when we cannot trust them,” Azula responded, “It’s better to lead this operation with few people that we can rely on then many people that might turn against us.”

“I think aunt Azula Is right.” Izumi looked at her father. “This group is ready to kill us to get what they want. They will not stop to hurt people until they have overthrown you. We can’t wait until the mole is identified and we can’t waste half of the police force on observations when they could help us fight.”

“We don’t even know who we are fighting and where they are located,” Aang stated. Even though Izumi had known Aang her entire life and had fond childhood memories of their trips around Republic City and the Air Temples, she had great respect for him in any situation where he fulfilled his role as the Avatar. The fact that he disagreed with what she had just said made her feel ashamed and immature. “We can’t fight them effectively until we have found out about how they are organized and how they are planning their attacks. This spy might be the best lead we have in finding their leaders.” 

Zuko closed his eyes and drew in a sharp breath. He had always valued the Avatar and his uncle’s opinions greatly. In case they agreed, it was almost certain that the Fire Lord would listen to their advice. So Izumi wasn’t surprised about his next words.

“I think the observations of the council members is our best chance to find a clue about the Legion’s whereabouts. Until we cannot say, who it is they are receiving information from, our hands are tied.”

Izumi clenched her jaw. She had the feeling that their chance of finding and destroying the Phoenix Legions were even smaller now than before this stupid meeting. She couldn’t believe that her father had decided to just wait for the traitor to reveal themself instead of actually taking action and doing something against them. Sokka had even named the most suspicious members of the council. The police should search their houses and offices for evidence instead of wasting time and resources on ineffective observations.

Everybody was staring to leave the conference room. Izumi thought about running after her dad and trying to convince him to change his mind, but she knew that is was useless. He had already heard her opinion in the meeting and he had chosen to ignore it. Izumi couldn’t stop her eyes from filling with tears of anger. She was the crown princess, for Agni’s sake, and she was already seventeen. Just as old as her father had been when he had taken the throne. Her words should have more power, they shouldn’t just be dismissed like a child’s notion.

Izumi felt a warm hand on her shoulder and looked to the side to see her aunt Azula standing next to her.

“You shouldn’t feel bad about yourself, sweety. I think you were right with what you said back there.” Azula smiled and her reassurance made Izumi feel a little bit better. At least one member of the royal family thought that she had something to contribute to the matter.

“I just don’t get how he can sit around and do nothing!” Izumi huffed, “It’s like he doesn’t even care that dad almost died!”

“You know that’s not true; he loves you and your father very much. I think he’s just scared to make a wrong move and endanger your lives even more.” Izumi pouted. Of course, she knew that her father cared for their family and that he would do anything to protect them.

“I don’t agree with his plans either, but he had probably planned all of this before the meeting even started.”

“You think he knew that someone had betrayed him before you told him?” Izumi asked in surprise and her aunt nodded.

“He must have realized that somebody had betrayed him when that bomb went off. He probably wanted to see if anybody would reveal themselves by saying something suspicious during the meeting.” Azula grinned awkwardly and shrugged her shoulders. “Maybe I shouldn’t have blown his cover so soon.”

What Azula had said made perfect sense. Now that she thought about it, it was impossible that her father had never thought about the possibility of the council being compromised while they had still been at the South Pole. He must have had suspected something.

“But why didn’t he tell us?” Izumi felt so unimportant and left out. What had she done to make her father feel like he couldn’t trust her? Was he still mad about what she had done at the South Pole? Maybe he thought that she was too immature and hotheaded to be involved in making important decisions.

“I don’t know, kid. He doesn’t tell me more than he tells you, but he probably has his reasons,” aunt Azula answered and smiled. “Come on, let’s go get some cake from the kitchen, I’m sure that will make you feel better.”

* * *

At night the palace was like a different building than at day. While the sun was up there were servants and officials everywhere, but at night there were only the guards that walked the corridors silently. Izumi had not snuck out of her room at night in years. It felt weird sneaking through the empty hallways for other reasons than trying to steal a piece of pie from the kitchen or climbing up the highest tower of the palace to watch shooting stars. She didn’t feel like this was an adventure and she was the hero trying to find a treasure like she used to. Now she was feeling like a thief.

Izumi had almost reached her destination. She just needed to turn around one more corner, but she knew that her father’s office was guarded. If she wanted to get in there unseen, she needed to distract the guards first. Izumi crouched behind a large vase and waited. It shouldn’t take much longer for her little distraction to start working. Before she had come here, she had ignited the leave of a large fern down the hallway. The flame had been small enough to not produce any smoke right away, but the longer the little flame had to spread, the more smoke would come from it.

“Do you smell that?” a voice coming from her dad’s office asked.

“Yeah, smells like fire to me,” a second voice answered. Then Izumi heard footsteps coming her direction and she quickly ducked behind the vase. The two guards walked past her without seeing her. Izumi waited a few more seconds and then she sneaked around the corner and hurried towards the huge door. She tried to open the door, but it was locked. Izumi had expected this and fumbled a small key out of her pocket. Her father had given her this key in case something should happen to him and she needed to care of all Fire Lord duties immediately. The guilt she felt was like a fist in her stomach, but she had come to far to turn back now. She opened the door and slid through the slot. When she had closed the door behind her she sighed of relief and ignited a little fire in her palm so she could see something.

The office wasn’t particularly huge. There was a large desk right in front of the only window and all the walls were hidden behind heavy shelves full of scrolls and books. Every time Izumi entered this room, she wondered how her father ever managed to run an entire Nation. There were lose scrolls and letters _everywhere_. The different stacks on the desk had grown so high that her dad had to start new stacks of unanswered (or answered?) and unsorted (or sorted?) sheets on the ground. Izumi held her hand lower so she could see the ground and avoid running into one of the stacks. 

She seated herself in front of the desk and examined the chaos that lay before her. How was she supposed to find any information about the identity of the traitor around here? Izumi thought for a moment. They had only been at the palace for a day until the meeting took place. So if her father had found any hints about the traitor the documents should be the ones he had examined only recently. Izumi inspected the pile of paper that was on her right, but those were only letters and invitations that her father still needed to answer. The stack to her right was more interesting. It consisted of testimonies about the bombing at Southern Water Tribe and other bombings that had occurred in the Fire Nation in the last months. Izumi skimmed through the pages, but she didn’t find anything that she hasn’t read before. So this was a dead end, too.

Next Izumi opened the drawers under the desk. They were mostly filled with fresh paper and writing utensils. Nothing that helped her getting closer to finding the Phoenix Legion. Maybe her father hadn’t suspected the council members after all? Maybe he hadn’t investigated before the meeting?

Izumi sighed and walked towards one of the big shelves. She was pretty sure that her father must have at least a few secret hiding places for information or documents that he wouldn’t want anybody to find. She started opening the drawers in front of her. The first drawer contained some blueprints for new buildings, so Izumi closed the drawer again and opened the next one. She found a bunch of letters and smashed the drawer shut immediately as she realized those were love letters her dad had gotten from Sokka. She was certainly never going to read those.

She tried a few of the other drawers, but she didn’t find anything interesting, only more boring Fire Lord stuff. Was there nothing here that could help her? She slammed the drawer she had just searched shut angrily. Suddenly, there was a strange, dull noise coming from the cupboard. It sounded like something hard had hit the back of the drawer, but there had been nothing but letters inside of it. Curiously, Izumi opened the drawer again and searched again. She had been right, there was nothing but paper inside, nothing that could have produced such a noise. When she investigated the shelf closely she noticed, that it appeared to be smaller than the others, even though they all looked the same from the outside. Izumi ducked and saw a small hole at the bottom of the drawer.

That was it! There must be a false bottom. Whatever was hidden underneath, her father didn’t want anybody to find it, but was this even related to his investigations about the Phoenix Legion? Izumi sneaked back to the desk and searched for a slim paint brush. She had come so far; she couldn’t just leave because she was scared of what she might find. She was the crown princess anyway, whatever was hidden in this drawer, it concerned her as much as the Fire Lord.

Izumi inserted the end of the brush inside the little hole. The false bottom started to rise. Her heart was beating so fast that she could hear the blood rushing through her veins. She had never gone behind her father’s back in this way, but if he had found something about the spy she just had to know!

She took the false bottom into her hands and lifted it out of the drawer. Underneath was something slim, wrapped into black silk. The pang of guilt in Izumi’s stomach started to grow again. She had the feeling that whatever was wrapped up in this dark cloth had nothing to do with the Pheonix Legion. She took the bundle out of the drawer. Whatever was inside was not heavy. Izumi’s fingers roamed over the silk, trying to make out what was hidden beneath without actually removing it.

Izumi took a deep breath. Whatever this was, she would never find peace if she didn’t know for a certainty if it was related to the Phoenix Legion or not. With shivering hands, she began to unwrap the object. The black silk fell to her knees. Even though Izumi knew the guard must have returned to the door by now she couldn’t contain a gasp. What she was holding certainly wasn’t what she had hoped to find. Instead of the evidence she had sought, she was holding the mask of the Blue Spirit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So we are finally getting close to Izumi kicking some butt as the blue spirit! Most of the story will be from Izumi's POV, but there will be other parts as well


	4. Chapter 4

It was almost morning and Izumi hadn’t slept one minute. She sat on her bed cross legged and carefully traced the edges of the mask that was lying in her lap. Time had left its marks on it. The blue color had faded and wasn’t as vivid as it may have been years ago and the wood was covered with various scratches. It’s demonic grin and hollow eyes made the mask look almost alive.

She had been staring at the mask for minutes now, trying to come up with an explanation on why this thing had been hidden in her father’s office. The Blue Spirit was a legend, the disguised hero that had once singlehandedly freed the avatar from the claws of the malicious General Zhao. Even though the Blue Spirit had committed other crimes against the people of the Earth Kingdom, his uprising against the Fire Nation had made him a symbol for bravery and rebellion.

There were many theories about who may have hidden behind the mask. Some people claimed that he had been an actual spirit, come to the human world to protect the moon spirit from Zhao’s vicious attack. Some people said that it must have been the leader of the freedom fighters, a small group of rebels that have fought against the Fire Nation and who’s leader disappeared at the same time as the Blue Spirit. Some people said that he had been an airbender and had used his bending to break the Avatar out of the prison without getting caught.

Maybe her father had found the Blue Spirit and had taken the mask? Maybe it was just a replica from a play? Maybe the Avatar had gifted him this mask, as he was allegedly the only person who was aware of the Spirit’s true identity? Izumi had to admit that none of these theories made any sense. Her dad had put effort in hiding the mask. He would not have done this if he had obtained the mask in a fight or as a gift. As much as Izumi tried to think of a different idea there was only one realistic explanation to this. Her father himself had been the Blue Spirit.

Izumi let this realization sink in for a second. Her father was the Blue Spirit. The actual fucking Fire Lord had been running around with a theater mask and dao swords, infiltrating Fire Nation high security prisons and rescuing an enemy of the state. Now that she thought about it, this was sounding really similar to the story of how Zuko had become friends with her other parents, so maybe she shouldn’t be surprised? To be honest, it kind of made sense to her now. Izumi knew about her father’s banishment and how he used to hunt the Avatar to regain his honor before he had joined the rebellion. If Zhao had delivered the Avatar to Ozai before her father, he would have lost the last chance to return to the Fire Nation.

Izumi furrowed her brow at the mask that was still staring at her silently. This was all wrong. The Blue Spirit was celebrated as a hero that opposed a tyrannical regime and fought for the liberation of the oppressed. And now after all those years, it turned out that the Blue Spirit had in fact not been fighting _against_ this regime but _for_ it? Sure, he had freed the Avatar, but he had only done that so he could capture the Avatar himself and gain the Fire Lord’s approval. It was like her father was fine with people celebrating him for something he had not done …

Somebody knocked on Izumi’s door. The princess startled and almost dropped the wooden mask onto the floor, but she caught it before it could leave the bed and quickly buried it underneath her pillow.

“C … Come in!” she yelled and flung herself across the bed. The door to her room was opened and her mom peaked her head inside.

“I thought that you would be awake,” Suki said, walked up to Izumi’s bed and sat down next to her. “How are you feeling, my dear?”

“Um, I feel fine. Why are you asking?” Had anybody seen her sneak around the palace this night?

“I had the feeling that you were upset after the meeting yesterday. I just wanted to check in with you.” Izumi raised her body and sat down on the edge of the bed next to her mother. Suki lifted her hand and stroked Izumi’s long, tangled hair.

“Did aunt Azula talk to you?” Izumi asked in a huff.

“No, she didn’t. I am your mother, I know when you are feeling bad about something.”

Izumi sighed and leaned against her mom, who had not stopped stroking her hair.

“It’s just … I’m feeling like nobody on this council even takes me seriously,” Izumi started to explain. She was feeling the same shame and anger she had felt after the meeting, but she didn’t mind exposing these feelings towards her mom. “I felt so stupid after Aang and Iroh had disagreed with me and I just don’t know what to think about all of this. I mean, how can I become a good Fire Lord when dad won’t let me take any responsibility? Or am I just going to be a terrible Fire Lord because I wouldn’t listen to the Avatar’s council?”

“First of all, you are not stupid for disagreeing with your father or even the Avatar. It is very important for a Fire Lord to learn about different perspectives on a matter, otherwise they would not be able to make a thoughtful decision. And you’re not going to be a bad Fire Lord, just because you would choose a different path than your dad. Most of the time, you won’t be able to tell if a decision was good or bad until you see its aftermath.”

Suki slid her arm around Izumi’s shoulder and the princess lifted her head to look at her mom’s face.

“And I don’t think you were wrong with what you said, either,” Suki continued, “I am a warrior, not a politician. If it were for me, you and I would be outside and turn this entire country upside down until we found the person that has hurt Sokka. But you and your father are no warriors, you are the head of this nation. And I’m afraid that a princess can’t run off and try to find these people by force. Even if it might be the right thing to do.”

 _No,_ Izumi thought and glanced towards her pillow, _a princess can’t. But the Blue Spirit can._

* * *

Night had come over the palace once more. Izumi had spent the day with her parents, listening to General Kuro’s dull reports on what the council members have been up to. Nobody had showed any particularly suspicious behavior. Raidon, Yuudai, and Cheiwa had increased the security around their house, but this was not surprising considering they were part of the government of a country on the brink of a civil war. From all of the council members, minister Raidon still appeared to be the most suspicious one to Izumi.

Izumi kneeled down in front of her wardrobe and pulled a small wooden box from underneath it. She opened it and grabbed the blue mask that she had hidden inside. She looked into her mirror and almost didn’t recognize herself. She was dressed in black training clothing that covered all of her body. She was also wearing black gloves and had covered her head with a hood. The person in the mirror did not remind her of a princess; she reminded her of a criminal.

Izumi opened her wardrobe. All of her personal weapons were fastened to the inside of the left door. The most prominent weapons were her shining, golden war fans. She also owned a long broadsword she had forged with her father and a beautifully painted boomerang, that depicted swirling waves crashing against an icy cliff. Izumi took her war fans, folded them and slid them into her belt. She had decided to not use her firebending while playing the part of the Blue Spirit. Nobody had ever thought about the Spirit being a citizen of the Fire Nation and she hoped that – in case she would be seen – everybody would just think that the Spirit was still the same person he had been during the war. Everybody except her dad, of course, but she would deal with this problem later. Ideally, she wouldn’t be seen at all.

Izumi put the mask inside of her cloak and opened her window. It was a warm summer night and the smell of the garden flowers lay in the air. Izumi climbed onto her windowsill and looked down. There were approximately 30 feet between her window and the royal gardens. She had never climbed out of her own window before, but she had absolved countless training sessions on climbing and stealth with both her mom and the Fire Lord. The most difficult thing would be to not be noticed by any of the guards that were roaming the walls of the palace. She had figured that the safest way to get out of the palace was to climb onto the roof and try to get to the eastern gate, which was were all of the food and other goods were brought in and out of the palace.

Izumi turned her back towards the garden and started climbing to the roof. The rich ornaments and decorations on the palace walls made it relatively easy for her to find a safe route to the top. She grabbed the edge of the roof with both of her hands and pulled herself up in one smooth motion. She ducked and started creeping towards her destination. Her heart was pounding in her chest. Luckily, Izumi knew the position of the guards that monitored possible movements on the roof, so she knew what route to take to avoid being seen. But the thought of being busted and having to explain herself to her father still filled her with fear – and excitement.

Izumi left the roof and jumped down onto a small balcony, from where she could already see the eastern gate and her chance to get out of the palace. A few servants were loading empty barrels onto a cart that wound probably be brought back to the city to be refilled. If she could somehow get into one of those barrels unseen, she would be able to get outside. Carefully Izumi pulled out the mask from under her cloak and fastened the blue ribbons around her head.

Izumi creeped along the wall of the palace and jumped onto a tree that hovered over the cart. The people beneath her were moving and talking and Izumi waited. The servants lifted another large barrel and positioned it next to the others, then one person turned around to grab the lid while the other persons attended the next barrel. Izumi took this chance and swiftly jumped down onto the cart and squeezed herself into the barrel. Only a second later the lid slid over the opening above her. A sigh of relieve left Izumi’s lips.

Not long after the cart started moving and made its way down to the city. After some time the cart stopped and Izumi waited for a few more minutes until the voices and footsteps around her had faded. She lifted the lid carefully and peaked outside. The servants had brought the barrel to what appeared to be the backyard of a wine merchant downtown. Izumi slid the lid off entirely and climbed out of the barrel. She recognized the shop they had brought her to and knew exactly how to get to Raidon’s house from here.

After stalking to the city’s narrow streets, Izumi had climbed up a tree right next to Raidon’s mansion. The house was surrounded by a massive stone wall and she spotted around half a dozen guards patrolling the estate. Raidon was either a very anxious person or had something to hide, considering his security measures.

Izumi searched for a suitable spot to climb over the wall and slid down the tree. She approached the wall with her fans drawn and used the sharp edges for stabilization while climbing to the top of the wall. When she reached the top, she instantly let herself fall over to the other side and hid behind the set of bushes she had spotted from atop the tree.

Izumi inspected the mansion carefully. All windows appeared to be closed, which did not surprise her. However, there was a small balcony decorated with fire lilies and a large sun chair. Maybe she would be able to pick the lock of the balcony door from the outside or she could use her firebending to melt any of the windows. Izumi waited until one of the patrols had passed her hiding spot and sprinted towards the mansion’s wall, climbing up to the balcony in a few swift motions. She couldn’t help but look down onto the guards that continued their patrol, totally unaware of the intruder stealing her way into the house. For a second Izumi imagined how proud her mom would be if she could see her stealth skills right now, but she quickly shoved this thought away.

Izumi approached the door and fiddled some pieces of wire from her pocket. Even though her mother had taught her most of the know-how needed to break into officials’ private mansions, Izumi always had to consult her aunt Azula for the more … illegal skills. Even though lockpicking had never been Izumi’s favorite exercise she managed to open the balcony door after a few tries. She slipped through the opening and found herself in a dark winter garden.

The building was rather large, so it took Izumi some time to find Raidon’s private quarters. She heard the sound of steady snoring coming from behind a door on her right. Izumi inspected nearby rooms, but she couldn’t find something that resembled his office. Maybe he kept his paperwork in his bedchambers?

Izumi slid the door to Raidon’s bedroom open as slowly and quietly as possible. The snoring grew louder and she inspected the minister for a moment. He was the only person inside his bed and tightly wrapped into a heavy blanket. The room was almost too dark to see, only the light of the street lanterns creeped through the windows. Izumi did not dare summon a fire to light her way. She carefully sneaked past the heavy bed and started to inspect the surface of a large desk. This appeared to be Raidon’s working place as the desk was covered in notes and letters. Izumi grabbed a handful of documents and seated herself under the desk. She should be able to light a little fire as long as she stayed behind the desk and would not let the light wake the minister.

She started roaming the letters without really knowing what she was looking for. Maybe she would find a letter with instructions sent by the Phoenix Legion, or an unsend letter in which Raidon described the events in court. After skimming through multiple unexciting letters from Earth Kingdom nobles Izumi found something that caught her attention. It was a letter that did not have any sender or addressee and was written in large and hasty signs. The paper was plane and undecorated, unlike all the other documents she had read. The letter said:

_“Tomorrow at midnight_

_where the violets bloom at night_

_make sure you are not followed”_

There was no signature, however it was clear to Izumi who must have sent this letter. This was it, she found the evidence! Why else would Raidon receive such a cryptic message with no sender ordering him to come to a shady meeting point at midnight? The Phoenix Legion must have sent is, probably to receive new information about the council. Maybe they had noticed Kuro’s men following Raidon and wanted to know if he had been compromised. Izumi’s hands were shaking and she had to extinguish the flame in her palm so she would not set the note ablaze. She tried to calm herself with a short breathing exercise.

The letter alone would suffice as evidence to arrest Raidon. And Izumi could not just tell her father about the meeting, because then he would know that she had broken into Raidon’s house and acted against his orders. Maybe she could just tell him that he had overheard Raidon bringing the meeting up in a conversation? No, her father would see right through her, she knew that. Arresting Raidon before the meeting would not be a good idea anyway. Even if he was the mole, he might not know anything about the Phoenix Legion. They somehow needed to arrest the person who sent this letter. The only way to do this was by surprising them wherever they were supposed to meet. It was not possible to say how many people would be there or if Izumi would be able to defeat them on her own. She certainly needed Kuro’s forces to deal with the situation, but this wouldn’t be a problem. Since the bombings and rallies had become more frequent there were patrols in every corner of the city. Izumi would follow Raidon to the meeting. As soon as the Phoenix Legion showed up, she would lure the nearest patrol right to their little party.

Carefully Izumi crawled out from under the desk. She tried to rearrange the letters as good as possible so Raidon would not notice any alterations. The minister was still fast asleep and snoring like a komodo rhino. Now that her flame was gone it was really hard to see anything in the dark room and the narrow slots of her mask did not make seeing any easier. Luckily Izumi already knew the way to the winter garden and was pretty sure that there were no guards on the top floor.

Izumi started walking towards the door. She could barely see the contours of the handle. Maybe she should wait a few minutes until her eyes had adapted to the dark? No, the sooner she got out of here, the better. Thus, she stretched her hand to open the door. Unfortunately, whatever she touched was not the door but something that had been standing on a side table next to the door. And this something fell over the edge of the furniture and hit the floor with a loud crash.

Izumi’s breath caught in her throat and she swirled around. Fuck. FUCK. Raidon woke up with a start and sat up straight. Izumi sprinted across the room to get to the window next to the bed. This was her best chance of escaping this building quick enough.

“I…INTRUDER!” Raidon screamed. Izumi kicked the window open and jumped onto the windowsill. In a few moments this place would be flooded with guards and she needed to get out of here immediately. Without thinking she pushed herself off the wall and jumped. Izumi flew through the air towards the stone wall. She held out her arms and got a hold of the wall. Her chest smashed against the hard stone and she nearly lost her grip, but she pulled herself together and dragged herself up. She heard shouting coming from behind her and somebody flung a fireball at her back. Izumi jumped onto the street and started running towards the small streets she had come from. Her lungs burned like fire every time she took a breath and her ribs ached where they had crashed against the wall. The guards were still after her, shouting and throwing fire.

Izumi ran as fast as she could, taking turn after turn to shake off her pursuers. After she had brought some space between her and the guards she jumped over a nearby fence and hid behind a few garbage cans. Her entire body was shaking and she was breathing heavily. Anxiously she heard how the voices and footsteps grew louder and louder, until the sounds faded and – in the end – disappeared. Izumi’s heart was still pounding like a hammer when she rose up from between the garbage cans, climbed over the fence, took off her mask and headed home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> finally some blue spirit action! pretty short chapter I know the next one will be longer :D


	5. Traitor

Their family breakfast was more reticent than usual. The Fire Lord was brooding over his bowl of rice, pushing the little grains around with his chopsticks without actually eating any. Both Sokka and Suki had tried to lighten up the mood with some jokes, however nobody seemed to be in the mood to laugh at them. Azula would just roll her eyes at their terrible word plays while Iroh would take another sip of his tea, giggling into his cup quietly from time to time. Izumi for her part was just too damn tired to show a human reaction to anything. Her nightly adventures had cost her the sleep she so desperately craved for the second night in a row. Atop of that her chest was still aching like crazy. Maybe she would be able to get some sleep after breakfast, after all the Blue Spirit would have to go after the Phoenix Legion again tonight.

Izumi would have fallen asleep at the very table she was having breakfast with her family, had it not been for General Kuro, who stomped into the room rambunctiously.

“Fire Lord!” he announced earnestly, as if he had not been noticed otherwise. Izumi looked up from her bowl of dumpling and was wide awake as soon that she saw Raidon come after the General. Her father rose from his seat instantly.

“General! Did something happen?” Izumi swallowed hard and dug her nails into her palms. Don’t freak out, she told herself. There was no way that Raidon could have figured out that it had been her who had broken into his chambers last night.

“Yes, my Lord. Somebody has broken into the minister’s private chambers tonight, unfortunately the intruder got away.”

“Did they steal anything?” Suki asked and Raidon shook his head, squeezing his eyes shut. He was looking devasted. His face was white as chalk and he was standing like he would soon collapse, hands incessantly fiddling with the ribbons of his cloak.

“They … they did not steal anything, my Lady. I … I believe that this person has been sent by the Phoenix Legion to assassinate me!”

Was this a trick? Did he try to use her break-in for covering up that he was working for the Phoenix Legion? Izumi furrowed her brow. Maybe she had underestimated Raidon’s malice, maybe he wasn’t the anxious, submitting minister that could be blackmailed into betraying his country with the slightest threat.

“Did you see the attacker’s face?” the Fire Lord asked, but thankfully Raidon shook his head.

“No, my Lord, please forgive me. I only saw them for a short moment. My men went after them, but it was too dark for them to see the assassin’s face.”

The Fire Lord nodded grimly and furrowed his brow. “I am relieved to know that no harm has come to you, minister Raidon,” he answered formally and took a few steps toward the general, “Even though we don’t know the aim of the intruder, I share your concerns about the Phoenix Legion’s involvement. I think it would be best if you stayed at one of the guest houses inside the palace for a while.”

“I don’t think this is a good idea!” Izumi blurted out and rose from her seat, almost falling on top of the table. Her parents looked at her in utter confusion.

“And why is that?” Zuko asked and Izumi could feel blood rushing to her face. Shit, what was she supposed to say? She couldn’t let Raidon get closer to her family than he already was.

“Eeehm … If the Phoenix Legion really got somebody into minister Raidon’s house without anybody noticing, wouldn’t he be safer if we send him somewhere nobody would expect him to be?” _Like maybe a prison? Or Si Wong dessert?_ “Like the safe house on Ember Island?”

“Don’t worry, Izumi,” her mother answered, “believe me, there is no safer place in the Fire Nation than this palace. Nobody is able to get in or out without my guards noticing them.”

Except for the Blue Spirit, Izumi thought and pulled a face. There was no way of winning this it seemed. She sighed and let herself drop to the floor in defeat. Her cheeks were still red from the embarrassment that scene had caused her, but one by one the scrutinizing pairs of eyes left her to pay attention to the Fire Lord and the minister. Every pair except one. Uncle Iroh’s cloudy golden eyes rested on Izumi like they could see every thought that ran through her head. The former general guided his cup of tea towards his lips without taking his eyes off the princess. Right before he took a long sip, he threw Izumi a cryptic smile and winked. 

“I … I am so grateful for your offer my Lord.” Raidon stammered and bowed so deep that his hat flopped onto the ground. Hastily he grabbed it and stood up straight again. “I would feel much safer knowing Lady Suki’s guards around.”

“I will have it prepared immediately so you can move in right away.”

“I … I will have to take care of a few things before I can leave the mansion, my Lord, but I will return as soon as my duties allow it.”

The Fire Lord raised an eyebrow at Raidon’s odd remark, but he did not press any further and asked some of the servants to prepare the house. What the Fire Lord didn’t know was that Raidon would never come to move into his new apartment, because Izumi would have him in chains before he had the chance.

* * *

The number of guards roaming Raidon’s property had at least doubled since last night. Izumi crawled over the roof of a house not far from the mansion, searching for the perfect spot to catch Raidon leaving his house. As far as she could see the house had three different exits, the large front door in the south, a smaller back door that led into the huge garden in the north and an inconspicuous door for guards and servants in the west. Raidon would certainly not leave the house through the front door; if he was only half as smart as Izumi thought he was he had spotted Kuro’s men, who were keeping the mansion under surveillance from a hotel room across the street.

Izumi leaned against a small chimney and investigated the night sky through the slits of her mask. It was dark already, but at least two hours away from midnight, so there was nothing else to do but wait. She observed the guards doing their routes, having chats and some laughs. She was pretty sure one of them even fell asleep for a few minutes, leaning against a wall until he almost fell to the ground. Even if she would not arrest Raidon tonight, she was very glad she would never have to break into this overcrowded building ever again. She was convinced that Raidon and whoever he was meeting at that secret location tonight had viable information about the Phoenix Legion, and when they were in custody, her family would be one huge step closer to ending this whole thing. Izumi needed this to work. It was her duty to do everything to keep her country and her family safe. Even if this involved breaking the law and going behind her parents’ backs … it was all worth it if it meant she would never have to live through something like the attempt on her dad’s life again. The fear she had felt in the moment the bomb had went off … she knew that nothing she would see tonight could ever scare her like that. She was ready.

After what felt like an eternity Izumi’s eyes caught a hooded figure stepping out of the western door. The figure took a moment to scan the environment and then left the building silently and quickly. Izumi stepped to the edge of the roof and sneaked towards the street the person was headed to. She moved quickly, her steps certain and steady on the rooftiles, and jumped to the next house, making hardly any sound upon her landing. She bent over the edge of the roof to get a good look at the person beneath her. They looked back to the mansion, probably checking if they were followed. Their hood slightly fell to the left and … Izumi could make out Raidon’s scared features under the dark cloth. She stepped away from the edge in case Raidon would look upwards. When she heard his fast, small steps walking towards the inner city she continued following the minister.

Raidon was walking towards the haven of the city, taking small side streets instead of the main roads. He had taken this path before, this was certain. Wherever this meeting took place, the sender of the message knew that only Raidon would be able to decipher the weird message.

_where the violets bloom at night_

Maybe they were meeting at a park? Or behind one of the flower shops? Both options would probably be to obvious.

Izumi jumped onto another building and almost missed Raidon taking a sharp turn to the left, now not walking towards the haven anymore, but parallel to its shore. Izumi’s heart began to pound faster. She had never been in this district of the city, but she knew what it was known for. It did not take long until the streets underneath her became crowded and loud. She could hear laughter and shouting of drunk soldiers and smell the thick, sweet perfumes coming from the brothels. It was hard to keep an eye on Raidon, who seemed to melt into the mass of people on the narrow streets. Luckily, it did not take long for him to reach his destination. He stepped through the doors of an establishment with the colorful signs _Mei-Wa’s Garden_ gracing its wall. 

Izumi jumped right over the crowd onto the roof of the brothel and ran towards the edge. She jumped down so she stood on top of a few boxes near a slightly opened window and crept as close as she could without being seen. A tangled accumulation of voices came out of the window, she couldn’t make out anything of what the guests and employees were talking about. But then one louder voice, presumably coming from a woman that was standing right under the window, reached her.

“Ah, minister, what a pleasure to see you here. Same as always, I assume? Violet is already in her room, waiting for you. Just as your … companion.” The woman chuckled when she said the last part. So this was the meaning of the secret message, Izumi thought and couldn’t help, but feel sorry for the poor girl that had to put up with a guy like Raidon. Whoever sent this invitation, knew how to make the minister uncomfortable. As far as Izumi knew, he was married to one of the teachers of the Royal Academy, who would not be pleased to learn about his nightly adventures.

The most important information Izumi just got was that the sender of the message was already in the brothel. She just needed to find out in which room they were meeting. Izumi turned towards the wall and started climbing upwards, using the grooves between the bricks as support. She soon reached a large window that led towards a hallway with many different doors leading to just as many different rooms. On side of the hallway was connected to the lower floor and just as she turned her head to get a closer look, Raidon came trotting up the stairs. Izumi lowered herself a bit. Raidon looked at a few of the doors and hesitantly opened room number 22. He stepped inside and closed the door before Izumi was able to see anything that was inside.

Izumi quickly pulled herself upwards and jumped onto the roof. Now that she knew which room they were meeting in it should not be hard to find a window the other side of the building. She climbed down the western side of the brothel and let herself hang from the roof to catch a glimpse of the inside of room 22.

She saw Raidon, who had taken off his hood by now. He looked as if he would pass out any minute. On a large, terribly decorated bed sat a slim, brown haired woman not much older than Izumi. Violet was wearing a beautiful golden and pink dress of latest Fire Nation fashion, however she seemed to be of northern Earth Kingdom descant. And just next to the window stood a tall man who wore a tight black cloak, that seemed to cover his face. He stood face to face with Raidon, so Izumi could only see his back. The man rose one of his hands and pointed towards the door. The women stood up from the bed, bowed and left the room instantly. The man now took off his hood as well and Izumi saw long, grey hair flowing down his shoulders. The window was not opened, so Izumi could only understand snippets of their conversation.

“I came as you asked me to … tell me what this is all about!”

“You know … Raidon … great news for you.”

“… do you mean?”

“You are … a great help … our plan of … Nation great again. You are … service to the Phoenix Legion.”

Izumi could not lose any time. Even though there was only one person from the Phoenix Legion in the room, she did not dare confront them in an open fight without knowing anything about their fighting skills. The risk of them getting away was too big. She would stick to her plan and lead the nearest patrol right into their meeting.

She returned to the roof and looked around. It would not be easy to spot a patrol in this part of the city and to get enough of their attention to have them follow her, but she needed to try. One of the biggest and busiest brothels was a bit further down the street, maybe she would find some officers there. She started running towards her destination, jumped over a narrow alley. Then the night was torn apart by a shrill, dreadful scream.

Izumi whirled around and twisted her ankles so hard that it hurt. The scream had come from Mei-Wa’s Garden. She raced back to Violet’s room, grabbed the edge of the roof, and flung herself against the window, breaking the glass and landing on the floor. In front of her was Violet, cuddled up in front of the door, face covered with her hands, sobbing uncontrollably and violently. On the bed lay minister Raidon. His throat had been slit and the linen beneath him drenched in blood. Above the bed was a yellow painting of Phoenix, spreading its wings above the corpse. Izumi could not tell if the painting was fresh or old. What was fresh was the sign under the painting. The blood in which the sign had been written in still tickled down the wall, forming a little puddle of blood at the floor. Even though it had been written in a haste, Izumi could decipher its meaning.

_Traitor_

Izumi heard people in the hallway storming towards Violet. There was no trace of the other man in the room, so he must have already left the building. Izumi turned around and leaped through the window, running towards the next corner to get to the main entrance of the brothel. The man must have left through the main entrance, there were enough people around to leave the establishment and the district unseen. Just as Izumi wanted to turn around the corner a strong hand came towards her and pushed her away, making her lose balance and fall towards the ground. Her back hit the ground, but she immediately used her hands to push herself back onto her feet.

A tall man in a tight cloak ran towards a dark alley. Izumi ran after him with everything she got. He could not get away this time, otherwise she would have nothing against the Phoenix Legion! Now that Raidon was dead, this man was the only connection to the Legion she had.

Izumi and the Raidon’s murderer turned off to the left, towards the haven. The man pushed away a young couple and Izumi almost fell over them. She was only slightly faster, but she almost had him. She reached out her hand to get a hold of his cloak. The figure turned around sharply and threw a fire wheel along the alley. Quickly Izumi grabbed her fans and used them to shield herself from the flames. Holding her weapons at her sides she continued to follow the firebender until she saw something large at the end of the alley.

It was a carriage, bound to two ostrich-horses. In front of the carriage stood two men that seemed to be waiting for the person Izumi was following. When they saw that their partner was hunted, one of them ran towards Izumi, swirled his arms around his head and crashed burning hot fire whips right at her. Izumi jumped to the side to dodge the attack. When her attacker saw her mask, his face filled with disbelieve and he took a small step back.

Izumi used this moment to run past her attacker and towards the carriage. Raidon’s murderer was already inside and the third man climbed onto the ostrich-horse, digging his spurs into its flank. The beast screamed and started running. Izumi tried to run faster, but it was useless. The cloaked figure in the carriage seemed to look after her and Izumi could feel the smile on his face without seeing it. Tears started forming in Izumi’s eyes. Her only chance of finally getting a hold of a member of the Phoenix Legion … lost.

Had it not been for the heat getting closer to her head, Izumi would have forgotten about the firebender that had stayed behind. She swirled around and redirected his fireball with her fans. She ran towards her attacker and crashed her left fan into his face when he dodged the fire. He let out a painful grunt and tried to ram his fist into her stomach, but Izumi was quicker. She crashed her other fan into his wrist, hearing bones crack. Then she used her legs to kick the man’s feet off the ground, watching him as he smashed into the ground, howling in pain.

Izumi grabbed the man by his collar and pushed him up against the nearest wall.

“Who is that man you are working for?” Izumi screamed into his face. The man’s answer were more painful grunts and a pathetic attempt to escape her grip. Izumi drew her fan with one hand and pressed it against his broken wrist, pinning it against the wall, receiving more screams of agony in response.

“I am asking you one more time. Who was that man?”

A few more grunts escaped the man’s mouth, then he lifted his head and looked right into the mask’s demonic eyes.

“You …” he started, blood flowing out the corner of his mouth, “You are not real.”

Izumi let go of his hand and cast a blazing flame in her palm.

“If you don’t talk, you are going to find out if I’m real or not,” she hissed and held the flame closer to the man’s guts and he squealed in fear.

“I …I don’t know who he is! I know nothing, I just follow orders!”

“Don’t lie to me!”

Izumi brought the flame closer to her prisoner and could smell his clothing starting to burn. Suddenly she heard other voices, shouting behind her.

“You there! Don’t move!”

Shit. This must be one of the patrols roaming the district. She heard steps of at last four people running towards her. She thought about attacking them before they attacked her, but she knew there was no use. Even if she could defeat all of them, it would give her prisoner enough time to escape. It would be better if the police arrested him; then she would be able to interrogate him as soon as they broke the news to her father.

She looked into the man’s damp, fearful eyes one more time. Then she let go of him and ran away.


	6. Revelations

Walking down the deserted streets near the crime scene in bright daylight seemed like some sort of surreal dream. Just yesterday the alleys had been crowded with people bringing the night to live, but now the only people around were police officers and scared business owners, who were being interrogated. Izumi felt like an imposter, walking past all those people, knowing that she was one of the few witnesses of the terrible act of violence.

Izumi followed Sokka and Suki quietly. The Fire Lord was discussing the security of the Fire Nation and Republic City at the palace and had even asked Izumi to join the discussions, but Izumi needed to get to the crime scene as soon as possible. She needed to know if the police had found anything that would help her identify Raidon’s murderer and track him down. The man Izumi had fought in the dark alley was being held in a cell in the police station. After she had checked in with the investigation in the brothel she would have to talk to this guy.

Izumi wondered if the man had told the police about the return of the Blue Spirit. If so, her father would soon hear word of it and then it would not take him long to find his mask missing. Would he figure out that his own daughter had stolen the mask and posed as the Blue Spirit? Considering her suspicious behavior in the last few days, he might get on to her sooner than she would like. Whatever happened, Izumi knew that she might get busted and would have to face the consequences. But before this happened, she would need to do everything in her power to find a lead to the Phoenix Legion. She didn’t care what happened afterwards, if she could just do this one thing, everything would have been worth it.

In case Izumi’s cover would be blown before she had accomplished her aim, she had prepared herself before leaving the palace. She was wearing a long red and golden cloak that covered her entire body and was too warm for this season. However, it gave her the possibility to put on her dark training clothes and her fans underneath and tie the spirit mask to her chest. If anything went sideways, she could change into the Blue Spirit in just a moment.

The three of them had reached Mei-Wa’s Garden and stepped into the building. A large, grey haired woman, possible Mei-Wa, sat on one of the red couches in the base floor, looking at her hands while answering the questions of the officers in front of her. Next to her sat Violet. Her eyes were red and swollen and she nibbled at her fingernails. Her hair was tangled, and she was still wearing the same beautiful dress she had been wearing yesterday. The guilt hit Izumi in the stomach like a fist. If she had just broken into the room instead of leaving them alone … then Raidon may still be alive and Violet may not be traumatized.

When the officers saw Izumi and her parents, they led them to room 22 at once. Even though Izumi had been at the scene before, a cold shiver went down her spine when she looked onto the yellow painting and bloody sign on the wall. Raidon’s body was not here anymore, but the blood-drenched bedclothes were. General Kuro was standing at the broken window, investigating a piece of black cloth sticking to one of the many shards.

“Any new leads on who’s behind this, General?” Sokka asked and Kuro sighed, shaking his head.

“Nothing we haven’t already suspected. We found a note in Raidon’s jacket, presumably sent to him by the Phoenix Legion. This note is the clear evidence that Raidon was the mole in the court.”

Kuro walked to a box with several pieces of evidence, pulled out the letter and handed it to Izumi’s dad. He held the letter so that Izumi and her mom could read it as well.

_Your weekly report will be at midnight three days from now at the usual location._

_As always, come alone and make sure not to be followed._

“He must have been spying for them for weeks, if not months …” Suki murmured. Before her father could stop her, Izumi grabbed the note and read it again. Her hands were shaking and it took all of her strength not to crumple the piece of paper into a ball.

“Maybe he wanted to quit, now that we were onto him,” Sokka figured and General Kuro agreed. “Their spy became a weak spot and they had to get rid of him.”

Izumi lowered the letter and looked into the brooding faces of her parents. What was she supposed to do now? Part of her wanted to just tell the whole story, how she had found the real message in Raidon’s office and how this one was an obvious fake, a distraction left here by Raidon’s killer.

“Aye,” General Kuro figured, “the owner of this establishment confirmed that Raidon was a regular.”

Maybe Raidon had received two letters concerning the meeting? No, the Legion would never take this risk, two messages were easier to find than one. There was only one plausible explanation for this fake evidence and Izumi felt like she was about to throw up. She had been wrong about Raidon this entire fucking time and the Phoenix Legion had predicted her every move. They had known who the most suspicious person on the court was and they used Raidon’s death to frame him. And if she didn’t do anything right now, the real mole would never be identified and would be able to continue their work for the Legion without getting caught.

“Don’t … don’t you think this is weird?” Izumi asked with a shaking voice. She needed to convince her parents and the general somehow, preferably without revealing that she had known about this meeting all along.

“What do you mean?” her mother asked.

“Just a few days after we discover the existence of a mole inside our court somebody is murdered by the Phoenix Legion and we find a mysterious letter undoubtedly proving that Raidon was the mole?”

“Are you suggesting that the minister was framed?” her father asked and Izumi nodded.

“Why would he even bring the note to the meeting? If those meeting were a regular thing, he shouldn’t need a reminder about the meetings whereabouts, would he?”

“General, what did the girl downstairs tell you about Raidon’s visits?” Suki asked.

Kuro coughed and his cheeks turned slightly red. “Eehm … she really went into … great details describing the matter of Raidon’s visits … but my men and I figured that she might be lying and involved with the Phoenix Legion as well.”

“Did you see her sitting down there?” Izumi interrupted, “She was devastated and frightened to the bone. I don’t think someone involved with the Legion would react that way. The only way to solve this, is to find the person who murdered Raidon.”

“Your officers told us that somebody had been arrested in this area shortly after the murder had happened?” Sokka asked, “Do you think this guy was involved in anything?”

The general sighed and rubbed his forehead with his large hands. “We suspect that he is involved somehow, but we haven’t gotten any useful information out of this guy. You wouldn’t believe what kind of fairy tales this guy is telling my men!”

Those fairy tales would be about the Blue Spirit, Izumi figured and grinded her teeth. So he had told the officers about her, but as long as Kuro did not believe him she should be fine.

“I would like to interrogate this man myself, if you don’t mind,” Sokka stated and the general answered that his men would prepare the prisoner immediately. With this Izumi and her parents left the brothel. Even though everything was going well so far Izumi’s skin was itching everywhere and she had to focus on her breathing in order to keep calm.

“This was a very good detective work of you, Izumi,” Sokka said and lay his arm around her shoulder, “Really, I’m kind of embarrassed that I didn’t come up with it. You really are my daughter.” He laughed and held her closer and Izumi wanted nothing more than to sink into the ground. Getting credit for something she hadn’t even done felt so wrong, especially when it came from her dad. But this was what the Blue Spirit got, was it not? Being praised for saving the Avatar, even though he just saved him so he could turn him over to the Fire Lord himself. Being praised for solving a mysterious murder, even though she only knew what had happened, because she was withholding crucial information.

Maybe she should tell her mom and dad everything? Raidon was dead because Izumi had wanted to catch his murderer all by herself. If she had just told her parents or the general about the meeting … But would they have listened? They didn’t take her serious when she had demanded direct actions, why would they take her seriously when she had demanded the meeting to be stormed by the police. The truth was that nobody dared taking initiative in fear of offending important officials or losing the public’s support. And Izumi knew that considering these things was a crucial part of being the leader of a nation. This was the exact reason why she had become the Blue Spirit … so she would not be shackled by her duties as a princess.

So she just shrugged her shoulders and forced a smile onto her face. “I’m sure you would have figured it out,” she said and looked to the ground. She felt like the worst daughter in the history of daughters. She fell behind her parents as they continued walking to the police station for a few minutes.

Just as they were about to enter one of the large plazas of the inner city a panting police officer came running towards them.

“Princess! Lady Suki, Councilman Sokka! You must retreat to the palace. The public learned about the minister’s murder and an immense rally of Phoenix Legion supporters is forming at Ursa Plaza. It’s not safe for you to stay in the city.”

“A rally? How many people are there, what are they doing?” Suki asked without any intention of leaving.

“At least a thousand people. They are getting more numerous by the minute, but we are trying to break the meeting up. There are several speakers spreading the Legion’s propaganda, even demanding the Fire Lord’s resignation.”

“We have to stop those speakers.” Suki decided and Sokka turned around to Izumi.

“You have to get to the palace to warn your father,” Sokka insisted.

“But I can help!” Izumi started, but her father shook his head.

“I don’t doubt your skills as warrior, pumpkin, but you are the Fire Princess, and I won’t have you walk into a rally of people who want to depose of the Fire Lord.”

Izumi wanted to protest, but her mother stopped her.

“Your dad is right, honey. Let us handle the rally, you have to go help your father.”

Izumi’s hand tightened into a fist. Of course they would tell her to stay out of it. She nodded and started to run towards the palace, but instead of staying on the main road she ran into the first side street she could find. Carefully she looked back to check if her parents were still behind her, but she could see them running towards Ursa Plaza, their figures getting smaller and smaller.

With one swift motion Izumi let her cloak drop to the ground and loosened the rope around her chest. The spirit mask fell into her hands and Izumi placed it on her face, tying the blue ribbons behind her head. Then she picked her cloak off the ground and hid it between a few bushes. She would need this to get back into the palace, since it was the middle of the day and she would not be able to sneak past the guards this time.

Izumi took a deep breath and closed her eyes. If she tried to get hold of one of the speakers in broad daylight, people would see her. Her father would know that somebody had stolen his mask and sooner or later he would figure out who was behind all of this. There was no way of knowing what consequences Izumi would have to face.

She opened her eyes and started climbing to the nearest roof. She moved over the capital’s roofs like a pygmy puma. It did not take long to reach the growing crowd of people occupying Ursa Plaza. A man stood on a small stage built out of old boxes and barrels. Three more people were standing at the edges of the stage, keeping people from climbing up. On a large box behind the speaker throned the emblem of the Phoenix Legion, the yellow phoenix spreading its wings. The speaker was surrounded by hundreds of people and there was no getting through to him. Izumi’s parents were at the brink of the crowd and apparently tried to convince the people to let them get to the stage, but they were not moving. Izumi crawled towards a lower roof so she was able to hear the speaker’s preaching.

“Those who are against our great nation shall suffer the consequences!” He announced and a lot of people in the crowd cheered.

“For too many years the Fire Nation has been raided and oppressed by the Avatar’s armies and his puppet king, Fire Lord Zuko! Too many achievements of our great nation have been destroyed – over night – after the Avatar conquered our homeland at the day of Sozin’s comet. They try to keep us small, to tell us that we have been lied to for 100 years, but I tell you: Our great rulers have never lied to us! They understand that the Fire Nation is the superior nation and that it is our duty to share our glory and our greatness with the rest of the world!”

There were still people in the crowd that cheered and clapped their hands. This is madness, was everything Izumi could think. These people were falling for the same fascist bullshit Azulon and Ozai had fed their people for so long. And the people in the crowd weren’t exclusively old people that grew up under their terrible reign: there were people her own age, cheering for and supporting this man! People that had never seen the horrors of war and dictatorship, people that didn’t even appreciate what her father had gone through to clear the name of the Fire Nation and her people!

“You should be ashamed of yourself!” Izumi heard a woman in the crowd scream at the speaker, “Avatar Aang and Fire Lord Zuko have freed our country from insane rulers like Ozai! How dare you wish war upon our world again!”

“I see, I see, you have not seen through their wicked scheme,” the speaker answered and shook his head as if he felt bad for that woman, “I really hope that one day, sister, you will see what I see. That all of you good people will regain what had been stolen from you by Zuko! Your wealth, your land and your pride!”

The people close to the stage continued cheering, but more and more people started to shout at the speaker. The speaker tried to continue his preaching, but the crowd grew noisier and before he knew somebody threw a shoe right at his head. The speaker’s guards stepped in front of him to shield him from any harm, but he was not the focus of the shouting listeners anymore. It happened so fast that Izumi did not see whoever raised a hand first, but it only took a few second until the people on Ursa Plaza were throwing punches at each other. When the first flame shot into the sky the people started screaming and ran off the square panic-stricken.

Everything was happening so quickly; Izumi watched the Kuro’s men storm into the crowd, trying to direct the flow of people so nobody would get hurt. She saw her mom jumping over the protesters’ heads to get to a young woman who had fallen to the ground and was in danger of being crushed. The princess was so distracted by the crowd that she almost missed how the men on the stage squeezed themselves through the mob to get away. Her dad was still following them, but he got distracted by two firebenders who were trying to take each other out.

Izumi started running over the roofs to get to the speaker. As soon as she started moving people started pointing at her and screamed in surprise, but Izumi kept running. The Phoenix Legion had gotten through the crowd and ran down the street, but it did not take Izumi long to catch up with them. She jumped down onto the street and landed in front of the legionaries. They stopped and stared at Izumi’s mask in sheer disbelieve and terror. She couldn’t help but smile under her wooden mask.

She drew her fans and leaped at one of the protectors. He moved too slowly to dodge her attack and her fans hit both of his shoulders while her knee brought him straight to the ground. Without delay Izumi turned around and dissolved a burst of flames coming her way, but there were more fire balls shooting through the air. She got onto her knees and slid over the ground, smashing her left fan into the knee of another legionary while her right fan shot up to the man’s back. He fell to his side and Izumi kicked him unconscious, swirling around in the air and landing on both her feet again, coming into a stand. Two down, two more to go.

The speaker was hiding behind the third firebender, who took a fighting stance and summoned an enormous fire blast. Izumi shielded herself from the flames and split them apart with her fans. Then she ran towards the two men, swirling around and casting a wheel of flames. She released the flames, that crashed into the firebender in front of her, at the same time she threw one of her fans after the escaping speaker. The fan hit the back of his head and the man stumbled to the ground.

Izumi ran towards him, drew a small dagger out of her boot and pinned the speaker’s cloak to the ground. The man was around 50, his black hair streaked with grey strands. His expensive clothing was torn and burned from the fight and he looked up into Izumi’s face furiously.

“Who are you?” he asked with a shaky voice and instead of answering Izumi took one of her fans and smashed it into the dirt, right next to the man’s face. His body twitched beneath her and his anger turned to fear.

“Who are you?” she returned the question and brought the golden fan closer to the man’s cheek, pressing the cold steel against his flesh, “And don’t lie to me.” This seemed to scare him good enough.

“I’m nobody! My name is Ryo, I work at the steel factory up south, please don’t kill me, spirit.”

“What do you know about the Phoenix Legion, Ryo.”

“I … I don’t know much. I like what they stand for and I have been going to their secret meetings to learn their message. I just wanted to share their wisdom with my brothers and sisters, I did not want anybody to get hurt!”

Agni, this guy made Izumi sick. Focus, she told herself, there is not much time.

“Who spoke at those secret meetings? Who is in charge of the Legion? Do you know where their headquarter is?”

Ryo hesitated and Izumi pressed her fan harder against his face so his face’s other side smashed against the dirty ground.

“One time there was this man … people called him Zanin. He talked about his service in the military during the great war, I think he was an admiral or something like that, I don’t know his real name or where their headquarter is!”

“When and where is the next meeting?”

Ryo started stuttering something about not knowing anything about the next meetings until Izumi sensed something hot getting closer to her back. She grabbed Ryo be the collar and rolled to the side, saving herself and the speaker from the wave of fire crashing through the street. Izumi swirled around and faced … General Kuro and his men.

The general’s mouth dropped open at the sight of her. His palms were directed at Izumi, ready to summon flames any time. The thoughts running through Kuro’s head were written onto his dust-covered face. Was Izumi an ally or an enemy?

“Drop you weapons,” he ordered, but Izumi hesitated. She needed to get out of this situation without being arrested. Somehow she needed to make Kuro understand that she was on his side. She folded her fans and stuck them into her belt, then she pointed at Ryo, who was still lying on the ground, watching the scene with big eyes. Izumi then moved her hands towards the general.

Kuro seemed to understand what she was trying to say, but he did not take his hands down.

“I appreciate your help, Spirit. But I can’t just let you leave.” Damn it Kuro, why did he have to be so fucking stubborn and law-abiding. Izumi sighed and lifted her hands in defense, taking a few steps back to tell them that she was not going to attack. Hesitantly Kuro dropped his hands and his men did the same. Izumi continued to walk backwards slowly, Kuro’s grim, sceptic eyes never leaving her mask. Finally, Kuro sighed and crossed his arms in front of his chest. He nodded once and pointed towards Ryo. His officers hesitated, looking at each other doubtfully, but followed their leader’s command at last. While Ryo protested loudly against his arrest, Izumi took down her hands and nodded at Kuro. Then she turned around and made sure she got out of there before the general changed his mind.

* * *

More than anything in the world, Zuko wished that this day would just fucking end. His head felt like it was going to explode, officials from all nations have been getting on his nerves all day. Their question all followed the same pattern: What was he going to do to protect his people? Why had Raidon not under been better protection after the attempt on his life? Would the Phoenix Legion start murdering minsters of Republic City and the Earth Kingdom? Was he going to resign? Even though Azula did her best to scare most of the annoying nobels away from him, there were just too many. And the bad news just did not stop coming.

First Raidon. Then the rally. His country seemed to be torn apart by the ghosts left behind by his father and it broke Zuko’s fucking heart. All he had ever wanted for the Fire Nation was to redeem herself, to find peace and alliance in the world, to make up for everything wrong they had done. And with the help of his friends, it had seemed like this dream had come true. The world enjoyed an aura of peace unlike anything a living soul had ever experienced. The Fire Nation had changed in so many ways, the people rediscovered their real values, the true nature of fire bending and the wonders and compassion of the other nations. And now … they were in danger of falling for the same lies and propaganda that he had tried to burn to ashes more than 30 years ago. And there was so little he could do about it. Even if they found every member of the Phoenix Legion and arrested them one by one, he could not change the heart of the people.

Zuko leaned against one of the large windows in the hallway in front of the meeting room. He felt tired. A soft hand glided over his shoulder and came to a rest under his neck. Zuko turned around to see Aang’s large and understanding eyes watching him.

“Are you okay?” the Avatar asked and Zuko sighed.

“Not really.”

“We are going to get through this, together. We always have, remember?” Aang smiled widely and Zuko couldn’t help but smile back weakly. Aang was right. They had survived a dance with dragons and had ended a century long war together. They would get through this.

Just as Zuko felt a little bit better he caught sight of something that let his mood drop to a new lowpoint. General Kuro was approaching the Fire Lord with large, hasty steps. His face was covered in dirt and sweat, and he looked like he always looked: like he was about to drop some really bad news. 

“Fire Lord! Avatar!” he announced formally and bowed, panting from having hurried to the palace. Zuko didn’t answer anything, he just waved his hand as a sign that the general could speak freely.

“We have taken a speaker of the Phoenix Legion under arrest. My men are interrogating him in this very moment.” Those were surprisingly good news. Zuko wondered what else there was to come.

“Can … could we speak under six eyes?” Kuro sounded pretty serious and Zuko threw a questioning look over to Aang, who just shrugged his shoulders. The three of them went into a small conference room at the end of the hallway. Zuko seated himself at the small wooden table while Aang airbended himself into the air and floated down into a cross legged position on the back of a large, ornamented chair. The two of them eyed Kuro expectantly.

“What is it you wanted to discuss with us?” Zuko asked impatiently.

Kuro scratched the back of his head and cleared his throat.

“You are probably not going to believe this, my Lord, but … it seems after all those years the Blue Spirit has shown up in the Fire Nation Capital.”

Aang fell down the chair with bang. Zuko needed a few seconds to process what the general had just said and when he finally got it, his mouth dropped open. The general looked as if he expected some sort of reaction from the Fire Lord, but Zuko was incapable of doing anything other than stare at Kuro in utter disbelieve.

Aangs popped his elbows onto the table. “Are you _sure_ it was the Blue Spirit? Maybe it was just was a guy in a mask that _kinda looked_ like the Blue Spirit?”

The general shook his head and huffed. “Believe me, I am just as surprised as you are, but I have seen him with my own eyes and I’m telling you: It’s him. He’s still as agile and fast as he has been 30 years ago, which is astonishing, considering that he sure as Agni can’t be the youngest anymore …”

Zuko turned his head around to look at Aang, who raised his eyebrows at the Fire Lord. Zuko just shrugged his shoulders and Aang groaned.

“Thank you, General,” Aang announced in his most avatar-ish voice, “The Fire Lord and I will discuss this matter immediately. I think it would be best if you returned to your prisoner.”

Kuro blinked in surprise but did not argue with the Avatar’s command. He bowed and left the room without any further comment. As soon as the door closed behind him Aang swirled around to face Zuko, holding his head with his hands.

“What the fuck, Zuko? How did you even get out of the palace??? There were people around you all day!”

Zuko stood up, shouting back with an equal amount of confusion.

“You seriously think this was me?? I haven’t put on the mask since Ba Sing Se!”

“But if it wasn’t you, then who was it?”

Zuko could not think of an answer to this question, but he knew where to look for answers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did Izumi just become the atla version of spiderman? It hink she did.


	7. Memories

„Wow,“ Aang wondered and took a long look at Zuko’s loaded desk, “I’m lucky being the Avatar isn’t this much paperwork.”

“That’s probably because nobody delivers to flying bisons,” Zuko muttered and carefully waded around the different stacks of documents and letters to get to the large shelve in the back of the room. He slid his hand over the finely worked wood and found himself to have almost forgotten which of the many drawers had been equipped with the false bottom.

“Can you give me one of those paintbrushes from under my desk?” Zuko asked his fried and a couple of moments later the airbender stood next him, handing him the brush. Slowly Zuko opened the drawer in front of him, pushed the end of the brush into the little hole at the underside and took the false bottom out. The black piece of cloth he had hidden his mask in was still there, but when the Fire Lord let his fingers glide over the fabric, what he had suspected all along was confirmed. When Zuko sighed and leaned against the shelf, Aang took the cloth out of the drawer and shook it around as if the mask would fall out of it.

“So someone really did steal you mask!” he gasped and put the fabric back into the shelf, “This might seem like bad news, but this also means that it must have been someone who had access to the palace, and those can’t be so many people! When was the last time you checked if it was still were?”

“… back when I put it there after my coronation?” he answered and Aang pulled a face.

“Oh, then the list of possible thieves is longer than I expected … Was there anybody who knew that the mask was in your office?”

Zuko shook his head. He did not have a single clue how somebody could have figured out that he was the Blue Spirit _and_ that he still had his mask. He knew he should have let it sink to the ground of Lake Laogai all those years ago, but a part of him just could not let go of it. Of this disguise, this possibility to do everything a banished prince could not do.

While Aang seemed to be inspecting the drawer for any evidence, the door to the office opened and Sokka and Suki entered. When Zuko saw a small burn on Suki’s neck he immediately rushed to her to examine the wound and ask her if she was okay. She waved it off, saying it wasn’t that big of a deal, and told Aang and Zuko about what had happened at Ursa Plaza. The Fire Lord felt his stomach turn. He should probably feel good about the fact that most of his people still supported him and would even start fights to defend his legitimacy, but the thought of Fire Nation citizens hurting each other in the middle of the capital was too disturbing.

As if they knew what he was thinking Sokka and Suki put their arms around Zuko and pulled him into a tight embrace. He leaned into the hug and nuzzled into Sokka’s neck, feeling some of the stress and fear leaving his body while Suki’s soft hands ran through his hair. An exhausted sigh left Zuko’s lips and he felt like staying in his partners’ warm embrace forever. Sokka pressed a gentle kiss against his temple and whispered into his ear: “It’s going to be alright.” And maybe it would be alright.

Their embrace parted much to soon and Zuko looked back to the Avatar who was still pretending to inspect the drawer, but who was probably just bummed out that he had not been invited to the group hug.

“What are you guys doing here anyway?” Suki asked and waved at the mess of an office in front of her. Before Zuko could intervene Aang started explaining.

“So, you guys haven’t heard? General Kuron just saw the Blue Spirit beating up some legionaries in the streets!”

Oh fuck no, Zuko thought as he saw Sokka’s face lighten up with excitement. This was not a conversation he had ever thought to happen.

“The Blue Spirit is back?” Sokka asked in disbelieve and almost jumped into the air, “Wow, I always wanted to meet him, do you think he will show up again at the next rally?”

Zuko felt his blood rushing to his cheeks and he would have given everything to just hide under one of the big piles of letters on the ground. Aang’s face, which turned from confusion, to surprise and finally to disbelieve, did not make him feel any better.

“You never told them?!” the Avatar shouted and Zuko grunted in return.

“It never came up!” he tried to defend himself, but he knew it did not sound very convincing.

“You never told us what, Zuko?” Suki asked. There was no getting out of this now.

“Well…” he started and hesitated until Aang groaned and pointed his index finger at the Fire Lord accusingly.

“Zuko has been the Blue Spirit the entire time! I mean he was, until somebody stole his mask. So, he isn’t anymore, but he has been when we were kids….”

Aang’s rambling was interrupted by Sokka and Suki bombarding Zuko with questions about the mask, the imposter, and, most importantly, why he had never told them.

“Why would you keep something like that from us?” Suki asked with a hint of hurt in her voice that made Zuko’s chest fill with remorse. Why had he never told them? He had hardly thought about the mask and his activities as the Blue Spirit in the last couple of years, but at the beginning of his reign the memories of his alter ego had been more present in his thoughts. Something about this secret had always filled him with a sense of pride as the Blue Spirit was now a figure of legends. One of the good guys. However, there was something else he felt whenever the image of the blue, demonic face popped up in his mind …

“I did it all for me,” he confessed to Sokka and Suki’s confused faces, “I did not free Aang because I wanted to help him. I did it so Zhao would not get his hands on him before I could. Everything I did at that time was for selfish reasons. Not for the things the Spirit is celebrated for now.” 

Now that he had said it out loud, Zuko realized that he had kept this secret all those years because he had been ashamed. He had been ashamed that he had used the power his people saw in the Blue Spirit for nothing but his own gain. He could have been a hero, a rebel fighting the reign of his father, but he had chosen to be nothing but a disappointment.

Sokka’s strong arm slid around his shoulders and pressed him closer, “Darling, we know what kind of place you were in back then. You don’t need to be afraid to tell us about what you have done.”

Zuko nodded and rested his head on Sokka’s shoulder. Deep down he knew that his friends and family had forgiven him for everything he had done long ago, but from time to time the nagging voice in his head, whispering that he was evil, that he did not deserve their love and forgiveness, would reoccur. With another one of Sokka’s kisses against his temple this voice grew quieter and disappeared.

“So, you are saying that whoever is the Blue Spirit now stole the mask from the palace?” Suki asked earnestly and Aang nodded. The warrior furrowed her brow; Zuko knew that Suki would be quick to blame herself for any lack of security in the palace, so he separated himself from Sokka’s warm arms and walked towards the door.

“I think we won’t find any clues in here,” he figured, and the others agreed, “We should find one of Kuron’s men. Maybe something they saw will give away the identity of this thief.”

* * *

Izumi felt like every person she passed in the palace halls was eying her suspiciously. She walked as fast as her status as the princess allowed it, sweating heavily under her thick coat. The plan that had formed in her mind on the way back to the palace was simple, but she had to do everything quickly. Or at least before her father had figured out that she had stolen his secret identity, which could be any minute.

She almost slipped when she ran into Kuron on her way through the palace.

“Princess!” he exclaimed and bowed quickly. Izumi stammered something awkward in response, tucking her cloak closer so he would not see her dusty training cloth underneath.

“Do you per chance know the whereabouts of the Fire Lord and the Avatar?” Kuron asked and Izumi bit her lip to suppress a curse. For a second, she thought about inventing a tale about how her father and Aang had left the palace for some important lordly stuff, but she figured that it would not work and would only make her seem suspicious. Thus, she answered that they were probably in the great meeting hall, trying to sort this mess out.

As soon as Kuron was gone Izumi continued her awkward half-jog towards her chambers where she pulled the dirty clothes off her body and changed into one of her red summer robes. A quick look in the mirror confirmed that her hair looked like shit, which was not surprising after her fight with the legionaries. She grabbed a comb from her nightstand and forced her long, dark strands into an acceptable shape before she rushed out of her room again.

There were only a handful of people in the palace who might know something about Ozai’s former confidant as most of Ozai’s staff had been imprisoned or reassigned after the war. There were only two people coming to Izumi’s mind who might know something about this Zanin guy; and thinking about confronting them with the wrongdoings and businesses of her grandfather made Izumi’s stomach turn.

The princess had reached the palace garden and let her eyes wander over the peaceful scenery. The turtleducks paddled through the small pond and cackled at each other, fighting over the crumbs of bread thrown into the water. Izumi walked towards the crooked tree in front of the pond and sat down next to her aunt Azula, who smiled at her and ran her hand over Izumi’s back.

“I heard there had been quite a fight in the inner city,” Azula stated and threw some more crumbs towards the turtleducks, “did you teach those legionaries some lessons?”

“Er, no, I had to retreat to the palace as soon as the fighting started,” Izumi answered hesitantly. She picked up a small twig from the ground and started drawing circles into the dust.

“Well, I guess there is no real fun in being the Fire Princess anymore,” Azula answered and chuckled and Izumi forced herself to laugh.

“I … I did overhear a few things I wanted to ask you about….” Izumi started without looking up from the circles in the dirt beneath her, “Do you remember somebody named Zanin working for Ozai?”

Azula’s hand, which she had lifted to throw another load of bread into the pond, fell into her lap. For a long moment, the older princess did not answer, and Izumi concentrated even harder on the ugly lines in the dirt, so she would not have to see Azula’s face.

“Why are you asking me this?” Azula asked in a voice so quite that it was almost a whisper. Izumi sighed and finally lifted her eyes from the ground to meet pair of scared and condemning golden ones. The fearless and confident woman she knew seemed to have disappeared and been replaced by someone else, someone who was deeply hurt and frightened.

“I … I heard a few legionaries talking about him, I think he might be their leader? And they said that he had been working with Ozai, I thought that you might remember him and …”

“That’s not possible!” Azula interrupted and her gaze hardened, but her voice was still shaking. “All of my father’s accomplices have been imprisoned or taken care of … one way or the other. Zuko made sure of this. They … they are not here anymore!”

Her aunt took a deep breath and rose to her feet, letting the remaining breadcrumbs in her hand fall to the ground. Without any more words she started walking towards the palace, leaving Izumi and her guilt to dwell beside the turtleduck pond.

Her father did not like to talk about Azula’s role in the war and her recovery after Ozai’s defeat, but Izumi knew that her aunt had been through hell to get to the place where she was now. Most of the stories Izumi knew from her mother, who could talk about her grandfather and his schemes more freely than her father and aunt. It had been her who had told her about how her father got his scar and how Ozai had used his own daughter to rid himself of his son. How he had driven a wedge between them so enormous, so deeply rooted in pain and fear, that they had almost not been able to overcome it. And here she was, asking Azula to talk about the man who had robbed her of her childhood and nearly her entire life. 

“Wait!” Izumi shouted and ran after her aunt, who stopped and turned around, eying her niece with a mixture of sorrow and indignation, “I’m sorry, aunt! Please forgive me, it was unkind to ask you such things.”

Azula’s face softened and with a sigh she lifted her hand to cup Izumi’s cheek.

“I know you didn’t mean any harm, child,” she stared and pushed a strand of hair out of Izumi’s face, “But believe me, my father and his men are gone. He can’t hurt us anymore.” Izumi then watched her aunt return to the palace and wondered how many times Zuko must have told Azula those exact same word until she had believed him.

Her heart felt heavy when Izumi returned to the stone halls of the palace. She should have known that bothering Azula with haunted memories would not get her any closer to finding out who Zanin was. She needed to ask somebody who knew about the former Fire Lord’s palace affairs and was willing to talk to her about it. There was only one person – besides her father who she would really, under no circumstances seek out – she could ask.

It did not take her long to reach the small palace temple. There was a small creek crawling between the trees and bushes surrounding the shiny building and birds were chirping cheerfully. Uncle Iroh sat beneath a large cherry tree. He was sitting in front of a large Pai Sho table made from stone and studied the pieces in front of him curiously, even though he was alone and did not have an opponent. When she came nearer he noticed her presence and gifted her a warm and broad smile.

“Princess Izumi. How nice of you to come visit an old man in these troubling times.” He lifted a can of tea from the ground and offered to pour her a cup. Izumi thanked him and a few moments later her hands were filled with soothing heat from the teacup.

“Do you want to play?” Uncle Iroh asked, already rearranging the Pai Sho pieces. Usually Sokka and Suki were the ones to play with him, as they were the only ones good enough to beat him from time to time, but Izumi agreed and watched Iroh make the first move, sliding the white lotus tile closer to the center of the board. Izumi lay her fingers on her blue dragon tile and moved it to the left.

“I was wondering if I could ask you some questions?” she began without stopping to pay attention to Iroh’s certain moves, “About your brother.”

“Ah,” Iroh answered and eyed Izumi’s choice of tile with amusement, “my brother. If it helps your cause, I will do my best to answer your questions, princess.”

“Do you know of an individual named Zanin? I believe that he used to work for Ozai and is now involved with the Phoenix Legion.” Izumi moved one of her moon tiles closer to Iroh’s white lotus tile, but she soon realized that he had anticipated this move and was able to increase his lead even further.

“I don’t think I know any man of that name. I am sorry.”

“It’s probably not his real name,” Izumi muttered and squinted her eyes at the board. She was losing. “Can you think of anyone who was close to your brother and is still on large? Somebody who might create something like the Legion?”

“My brother had many secrets, even back when I was a part of his inner circle. Everyone we knew to be a threat to my nephew has been dealt with.”

Sighing Izumi moved her blue dragon even further, her faith in getting anything out of this match shrunk by the second. Uncle Iroh had given her the same answer aunt Azula had given her. There was nobody left she could ask for information, no way she would be able to find out who Zanin was … Suddenly a thought ran through Izumi’s head that made her eyes widen and her heart jump. Iroh seemed to notice her excitement.

“It always amazes me how much you and your father are alike, young princess,” Iroh mused and took a sip out of his tea cup, “you are both so determined, so eager to do everything for what you consider your mission. Your destiny. But remember, my child, you are not alone, and you do not have to fight this enemy all by yourself. There is no shame in asking for help or in admitting having done something wrong or … questionable.” 

With her eyes fixated on the board Izumi bit her lip. She should have known that Iroh would see right through her.

“But what If I’m the only one who can do it?” she whispered.

“Nobody but yourself can answer, what is the right or the wrong thing to do. You alone will decide what kind of person you want to be and what kind of sacrifices you are willing to make to keep your family save.”

Iroh lifted his hand to slide his white lotus tile towards Izumi’s folded hands. She had lost the game.

“Thank you for the game your wisdom, uncle,” Izumi said after rising to her feet and bowing down. Iroh nodded and closed his eyes as he continued to enjoy his tea and the birds singing in the trees above them.

Izumi turned around and started walking back to her room. Uncle Iroh was right, she was not alone in this fight and her family would forgive her for everything she had done behind their backs. Her family would never turn their back on her, they loved her just as much as she loved them. Which was why she would do everything in her power stop the Legion before she would reveal her doings to anybody. There was just one final thing she needed to do to find Zanin; because there was one more person in this city, who definitely had all the answers to her questions. And she would make him talk.


End file.
